The Greatest Treasure
by Pocru
Summary: Years after a tragedy in the Mushroom Kingdom, the Mario Brothers discover a web of lies and deceit that lead them to discover the greatest treasure of their lives... and how twisted its become.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: All I own is the shirt on my bac- Oh, wait, I'm shirtless. Okay, I own nothing.

Authors note: Hey ya'll! I started this Fanfic account in order to write death note parody fanfics, But… as it turns out, I suck at humor, so In ever posted them. On that note, though, I was recently hit with the lightning of inspiration and this little thing popped into my head, involving everyone's favorite plumber… Mario.

WARNING: This is my first fanfic, so It may have unnatural levels of suck in it. Also, this idea has probably already been done before, and if it has, I'm sorry!

~Prologue~

The Escape

Peach smiled politely at the koopa who stood before her, her hands behind her back, much like a small child trying to look cute to an annoyed adult. Her pink dress was as well kept as ever, and her cell was decorated with a few knick-knacks that she had managed to scrounge up, all of them prepared in a homely fashion to make the cell more hospitable.

The man-sized turtle looked it all over a few times, the smile of the princess never completely out of his gaze, just to make sure she was always in his sight and not trying anything "Funny".

"Sorry about this, Princess," The Koopa half-heartedly apologized, " its just that with all the noise you were making we want to make sure that you're not up to something."

"Oh, that's fine." She said, cheerfully, her cheeks a bright red color from being flustered, "I was just trying to get out of my corset, but if you want to double check, that's fine."

Well aware of the discomfort that was induced by the process of wearing a corset, the koopa was satisfied with that answer, but checked a few other places out of formality. Then, he hastily made his exit, convinced of the princess's innocence. After all, she had never tried anything on the many other occasions she had managed to get kidnapped, why this time?

As he closed the cell door, Peach's grin faded and was replaced with a more serious scowl. She listened intently as the guard's footsteps got fainter and fainter, then silently moved to the door when they were invisible to her ears. Yes, it was true, normally she would patiently wait for Mario to come and rescue her, but not this time. No, this time she had something far to important she needed to bring to her castle. There was no time to wait, twilling thumbs. She needed to get out. Now.

With the Koopa out of eye and ear shot, she slowly opened what should have been her locked cell door. While the trooper was looking things over, she slipped a small rock between the locking mechanism of the door and the hole it was supposed to slide into, making the door close, but not automatically lock like it should of. Peering out to make sure no one was in eyesight (it was late at night, most everyone was asleep), she slowly tiptoed out: her feet were bear, absent of the heels she usually wore, and the only thing she brought with her was wrapped tightly up in a bundle of cloth, held tightly to her chest. While the Koopa was looking over her room, she had managed to keep the item hidden under her dress, tenderly held between her knees.

Thank god for this dress.

As silent as a gentle wind, she tiptoed through the dim hallways, all of her senses keen and aware, making sure not a soul would be around to stop her escape. She passed one corner, and another, down the hallway, through the castle, with a skill and precision she never knew she had in her. Guards were mostly asleep, and the one's that were awake were drowsy and easy to sneak past, if she used the shadows and their own laziness to her advantage.

Out a window, on the roof. Slowly, she started climbing down, careful not to break loose any shingles. She would of just floated down (one of the many physics-ignoring powers of the magnificent dress), like she normally would of done, but that would be too obvious, and she needed to stay as hidden as possible: this was perhaps the most important mission she's even gone on.

…not that she's gone on many missions anyway.

Regardless, carefully, she scaled down the walls of the brooding castle, taking advantage of the spikes that protruded from the stone walls. While placed there for a scary effect, they were infinitely more useful as stepping stones to aid her decent. She was eager to escape, but never once did the toadstool princess ever rush: she had to make sure that both she and what she needed to bring to the castle would get out of this place unhurt.

Ground level.

All she needed to do now was get past the wall, and she would be home free. Quickly darting into a dark, shadowy corner to avoid the gaze of a passing battalion of Goomba's, she stood still for a moment, trying to think of what her next step should be. The walls didn't have the spikes the castle did, so she couldn't climb them, but the gate was so heavily guarded that she would be hard-pressed to find any way to sneak past those henchmen.

Well… Bowser's men were not known for their vast intellect or keen observation. If she could find a hammer bro's suit, then she could disguise herself and get out without a hitch. But where to get one…? In the castle? No, too dangerous…

Maybe, if she could find one of those leaves, she could fly out of here… yes, that sounded more promising, but she still didn't know where to find one.

But luck was on Peach's side. There was an item block right across the charred ground of the courtyard.

_That's suspiciously convenient… but no one knows I've escaped, so it shouldn't be a trap…_ She reasoned to herself. Well, she didn't like it, but she didn't have much choice in the matter. Without a hammer-bro's suit or some way to fly, she wouldn't be able to get out of the castle at all, and failure was not an option. So, after checking, double-checking, and checking again that there was no one coming close, she braved the open air and approached the block.

With a quick, delicate jump, she bumped her head into the bottom, releasing the item within: a cape feather!. Without hesitation, she grabbed it, and within a few short moments was off, in the air, gracefully flying, where every guard could see her. She was spotted, but that didn't matter. The alarm bells were ringing, but she already was in the air, over the walls, the wind brushing against her face and flying through her hair. Her eyes brightened up. A smile on her face. She would escape. She would get out of here!

…a swishing in the air.

The sudden impact of a large, heavy object on the back of her head.

The cracking of bones.

She tumbled to the ground, quickly losing consciousness.

In her last act, she wrapped her body around the bundle of cloth. Maybe… just… maybe…

…_*thud*_

Princess Peach's crushed skull lay on the ground, her body wrapped tightly around itself, blood everywhere. The loyal henchmen of the King Koopa crowded it.

"Oh, man, oh, man! I didn't mean to do it! I swear! I panicked! It was an accident! I was-"

"Its too late for that! She's dead! You killed the princess! Bowser is going to rip you apart!"

The Hammer Brother responsible started to shake, fearful for his life, while the koopa's and goomba's around him started to whisper. What now? What should they say to the king? How will he react? What will he do?

Suddenly, the bundle caught the eye of one of the guards. Slowly, he approached it and unwrapped it to gaze at its contents.

All the talking stopped. Silence reigned for a whole minute, as they all contemplated what exactly it was they were looking at.

Then, the brave Trooper who opened up the bundle broke the stillness.

"Get the King. He's going to want to see this…"

-End Prologue-


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own BOTH Mario brothers AND the universe they live in. Oh… wait, I just got a letter…. Well, looks like I'm being sued for LYING THROUGH MY TEETH.

Authors note: Hey! First chapter is up! YAY! (dances) Sorry about these being short, I suppose they are by fanfiction standards. But hey, I've found that its easier for me to read short chapters, and their be a lot of them, then read just a few long chapters, ya know? So on that note, enjoy!

Chapter 1

A Anniversary

~*~

Luigi stumbled to the door of the Mario house, his hands full of bags, and those bags full of comfort foods and movies. He knew what day it was. He knew how Mario would be feeling… he hoped that his big bro would just move on, but for one day, for the past- who knows how many years, Mario had always been depressingly silent on the anniversary of her death. His loved one's death.

Luigi would always act like it was just a normal day, in the hope that perhaps Mario would just forget or move on, but each time the act was in vain.

But this time, even if Mario was in his normal depressed state, at least his brother could be there to comfort him with some of his favorite movies and some of the best pasta in town. Pumping himself up, the green half of the duo waited for just a moment before coming inside the door, a bright and cheerful look on his face.

"Hey, big bro! I decided to stop by the video store on my way home! I picked up your favorite movie, _Mushroom Rush 5_. It has that actor you like in it, Furrie? Flurry? What was it?"

Mario was quiet. Luigi couldn't see his face, but he could see the back of the red cap from where he was standing: Mario was sitting in his color-coded chair, gazing into the fire he started in the fireplace, almost as if hypnotized by the dancing heat.

"I also stopped by the cooks and picked up a nice, fresh lasagna! Its made just the way you like it, extra… well, everything!"

He let out a laugh, but it was only met with silence.

Luigi let out a small, barely noticeable sigh, and walked into the kitchen to put down the lasagna and the bags full of other things his brother was fond of, including _Mushroom Rush 1-5_, _7, _and_ 8_.

…they both hated the sixth.

As he was setting up the oven to keep the food hot, his brothers voice, uncharacteristically weak, came from the living room.

"You know what day it is… right?"

Luigi made a much larger sigh this time.

"Yes, I do, Mario. But every year you're like this. You need to get over it, Bro. I loved her too, as a friend, and I still miss her, but… her game is over. You should keep going on with yours."

Mario was silent for a moment, contemplating what his brother said.

"I've gotten over it every other day of the year… at least give me this one."

Luigi said nothing. His brother wouldn't listen to anything Luigi had to say, anyway. Three things made all this so hard for Mario. One was that if he had taken action to eliminate browser permanently, then this wouldn't of happened. Of cores, Mario could never kill someone, but he was still haunted by this fact. The second was that he had always been there to protect Peach, except the time when she needed it the most. Luigi figured he would never get over that. Finally… and most importantly, it was Peach. He loved her, and she loved him. Her death, regardless of weather it could have been prevented or whose fault it was… was her death.

She was just gone.

And that was that.

But true enough, Mario was right, for the most part. 364 days of the year, he acted like nothing had changed. He was still a plumber, a doctor, and a sports star. He still worked and saved the world and countless kingdoms biweekly. Luigi supposed that its better he allow himself to express his emotional pain once a year rather than holding it in all the time… or even worse, expressing it every day, but he still would rather Mario completely moved on with his life. He was an attractive man, many women had said so… but even with her gone, he politely refused all potential suitors. He refused to let himself love another women, it seemed.

Luigi, with the movies put away and the food being kept warm in the stove, walked over to his brother and stood over the man imposingly. Mario was half dressed, looking lazily at the fire, where a picture of the princess was resting on the mantle. Normally Luigi didn't allow her picture to stay up, but this day was the exception. It was surprising how the little brother could man up to his older brother when necessary.

"Well, I hate to break it to ya, but we have work, Mario."

Mario's eyes barely glinted with recognition.

"Eddie has a pipe problem, and he's asked us to fix it. You remember Eddie, right?"

Mario nodded, slowly.

"Well, lets get it out of the way, then we can get home and watch some movies!"

Luigi smiled. Mario sighed and slowly got out of his chair.

"Alright, Luigi. Whatever you say."

The Italian plumber grabbed his hammer and plunger and simply walked out the door, neglecting to change into more suitable clothes. Luigi, expecting this, simply followed without a word of protest. They took the pipes over to Eddie, a toad who worked at the castle, and after a chat and a quick cup of coffee, the Mario Brothers started to do what plumbers do: knock crabs and turtles out of the pipes.

In no time, they were almost done.

"Ah, that nasty blue one almost got me, did ya see me in action, bro?" Luigi called to his brother, pumped up from the adrenaline-rush he got from braving the dangers of a side walker. Mario grunted.

"Don't be like that, we did good! Just think, after this last object we bump outta here, we'll be able to go home and watch the entire _Mushroom Rush _series back to back! …Except six."

…Mario, for what must have been the first time all day, let out a small smile at the thought, but nothing more. With that sweet reward festering in both brother's minds, they turned to look at the last thing that was blocking poor Eddie's waste.

…it was a bob-omb. With its fuse unlit. It simply rolled out of the pipe, right before the brothers. Unmoving. Completely harmless.

"Well, isn't that curious." Luigi said, picking it up. Mario, out of human curiosity, came close to it too.

"I do believe this is a first! I've never seen a Bob-omb that wasn't about to explode on us!" Luigi let out a small laugh, and Mario, who was now in a better mood, followed suit.

…but the laughter would not last long. Out of the darkness of the pipes, a fireball flew out, quite intentionally, and smothered itself into the very base of the fuse. The brothers had no time to react, and it went of instantly. Both went flying a good direction away from the pipes, Mario sliding across the ground, his skin burning from the fraction of the stone, and his brother slamming into the opposite wall, then landing limp on the ground.

Mario quickly got up, unfazed by the burns and the bleeding (as he had endured worse though his life), and ran into the pipes after the assailant. The only sign of the attacker was the dim light it used to escape in the pitch-black tunnel (the light didn't even illuminate the outline of the attacker, he/she must have been dressed entirely in black), and the faint sound of footsteps in the metal pipes. Mario ran after the light the attacker produced, but couldn't catch up in time: they turned a corner and the light went out, making Mario effectively blind. Forced to give up his search, Mario slowly walked out of the pipe, the pain from the wound finally sinking in. Luigi was just barely getting up, a small trickle of blood coming out of his mouth, the rest of his burns and bruises seeming to seep pain.

A explosion in the distance. Mario ignored it as he noticed the state his brother was in

"what… was that… bro? Was… someone…"

He closed his eyes and collapsed on the ground, in pain, but not dead. Mario quickly ran to his fallen brother and picked him up, his eyes, just a few moments ago finally starting to show expression, went back to the cold, steely tinge of sadness they had before.

Rest assured, there would be no _Mushroom Rush _tonight.

~*~

End chapter 1


	3. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I own a few things. A nice laptop. A wii. A good bed. But I do not own Mario or anything Mario-related, for all copyright purposes.

Authors note: Hey hey! Chapter 2 comin your way! You know, I have a pretty good system for writing these. By the time your reading this, I should be writing chapter four and double-checking chapter three. See, I write two chapters ahead, use two days to keep proofreading the chapter I'm about to post. That way, if something happens and I cant write a chapter a day, then I have some back-up so that the fan(s) (if I have any, and so far? Not so much) stay satisfied or something. It's a pretty nice system, if I do say so myself.

~Chapter 2~

A Good Nights Sleep

~*~

"_Peach!"_

_Mario ran into the castle doors, grasping a seemingly urgent letter sent to his house earlier that day. However, to his relief (if not surprise), he found the Princess on her throne, eating some cake. It looked good, but Peach's expression… it seemed odd. _

"_Oh, Mario! There you are!" Peach exclaimed, cheerfully putting down the fork and waving 'hello'._

"_Peach, I'm… I was expecting you to be in trouble, your letter…"_

"_Oh, that?" Peach let out a small chuckle. "Toadsworth can be such a worry-wart. I simply misplaced my crown, and he jumped to the conclusion it got stolen by some villain."_

_Mario let out a sigh of relief. _

"_Oh, good… I was worried, for a moment."_

_Peach's smile brightened._

"_Well, sense you're here, you might as well enjoy some cake with me! My chiefs made this wonderful new recipe, its simply mouthwatering!"_

_Mario looked at the cake that was before the princess: it was very well decorated, a cake fit for royalty, to be sure. Well, he had come all the way here, and he DID love cake…_

"_Alright, princess! That does look awfully good!" _

_Mario and Peach then spent the morning together, talking about life and enjoying the delicious cake that was before them. _

~*~

If there was one thing that Mario valued about his and his brother's stamina is that after one good nights rest, they were completely refreshed. Vitality was a easy thing for the brothers to lose, but just as easy to get back. However, Mario still couldn't wipe a small grimace of concern off his face: it was well past noon and his dear brother was still in bed. He WAS holding the thing when it went off, so its not much of a surprise… but it was still troubling.

…besides, it was usually Luigi who made breakfast, so Mario was on his own this morning (and that was enough of a reason to get troubled). He managed to scrounge up some toast and _Toadstool-O's_, but as he sat next to his sleeping brother and chewed the now-charred bread, he still wished he had something better to eat. The lasagna burned, unsurprisingly, as last night as Mario rushed Luigi home he completely neglected the food to care for his younger half.

Still, though, sitting next to his fallen brother gave Mario an opportunity to think. That attack last night was certainly a new kind of ambush. Whenever Bowser or any other enemy ambushed the brothers, they always stuck around to flaunt their plans in their faces and taunt them before running off… but this one just attacked and ran. Was it a new enemy? And more importantly, why were they attacking Mario and Luigi? What had they done other than save the world?

_It cant be a old enemy seeking revenge. They've never been the cloak-and-dagger type…this must be a new enemy. But why attack us first? Were they going to try to take us out BEFORE they attempted their schemes, or… was their scheme simply to take us out?_

Mario's inward ramblings were interrupted by the sound of his younger brother getting up.

"Whooaaaa… bro… what happened last night?"

Mario stood up and helped his woozy brother out of bed.

"I dunno. We were fixing Eddies plumbing and suddenly someone attacked us with a Bob-omb. I tried to catch em', but they got away from me."

Luigi brushed off his clothes and looked at his brother.

"Well, its quite the pickle, but at least we're alive!"

Mario nodded.

"True, but I'm still bothered. Why would they attack us? More importantly, who was it?"

Luigi pondered. "its been forever sense Browsers last attack… maybe he's re-evaluated his strategy and is coming back?"

Mario paused. Luigi was right, Bowser has been all but ignoring the mushroom kingdom now that Peach is… well, gone. She was half the reason he even cared about taking over the kingdom/world… and the Plumber had to give the dragon credit, he was more upfront then the stealth attack that was released on the brothers. Even if he decided to make a comeback, he would of done it much more dramatically. Its just his style.

"I don't think so… do we have any jobs today?"

Mario was still dependent on his brother for little things like that.

"Lets see…" Luigi thought about it, not even looking at the calendar. "Nope! The whole day's ours."

"Great, lets to back to Eddies."

"Why?"

"Simple," Mario replied. The attacker went through the pipes to make their escape. If we follow the pipes-"

"-We get a hint about the attacker by where they end!"

"Right. Lets go!"

With that, Both brothers readied themselves for an adventure, and were out the door in a manner of minutes.

~*~

"I admit, bro, I'm scared, but at the same time, excited."

Mario turned to look at his brother. They were walking down the road to the Toads house when Luigi spoke up.

"I mean, all these times, I've seen you go on adventures, and I've always stayed behind. Heck, even the times I do go with you I'm going reluctantly."

"Now, that's not true." Mario corrected. "You were pretty happy to help me save reality from Count Bleck."

"Well, for the MOST part, bro. But now, here I am, bravely going to face our vicious attacker! I should write another book about it!"

Mario let out a small chuckle.

"I'm sure EVERYONE would love that… We know how well your FIRST book went."

Luigi blushed.

With that said, Mario knocked pleasantly on the door to the Toads house. Words were exchanged. Explanations given, and the brothers were once again at the scene of the crime.

They both stood before the pipe that the bomb came from. There were four pipes in this particular place, as per the usual, (There was even a unused POW block) but the bomb came from the upper left pipe. Mario flicked on the flashlight that pierced the inky darkness, and started down the path. Luigi followed like the scared puppy he was. Each footstep echoed after the other as they both kept keen eyes out for clues or signs of the attacker… but they came up empty handed. The small stream of water that was flowing through the pipe occasionally found its way in the Plumbers shoes, but if there was anyone used to that, it would be the Mario Brothers.

"It'd be hard to get any hints here, I suppose," Mario reasoned, "with all the water flowing, it would be easy to wash away all evidence."

"Yeah, who KNOWS where the water goes?" Luigi added.

After a few minutes of navigating through the pipe, a light appeared. A hole was on the ceiling of the pipe at this point… it was a good ten feet from the ground, and it was just big enough that a lean figure could go through it.

"Wow." Mario looked up at it.

Luigi checked the ground under the hole in the ceiling, but found nothing.

"Do you suppose they flew through the hole?" Luigi asked. Mario shook his head no.

"The hole's too small. If you had wings, the hole would need to be bigger to make room for them. If I had to guess, they probably jumped."

Luigi laughed.

"Good one, bro. But only I can jump that high."

Mario nodded slowly.

"yeah… that's true…"

"I guess they could of used a spring or something." Luigi said. "its not like there aren't portable springs, and If it was small enough then it could have been washed away in the flow of water."

The water flowed from the upper left pipe to the lower right one. However, the water didn't flow as hard as it did when the Brothers came, because they always turned the flow down whenever they worked. For safety reasons.

Mario nodded again.

"That makes sense. Lets get through it and try to find out what's up there."

Mario walked under the hole, and Luigi took a few steps back.

Mario sighed… he hated this part.

In a instant, Luigi leapt up on Mario's surprisingly spongy head (extra absorbency from years of abuse) and used it as a launch pad to leap through the hole in the ceiling. Luigi was taller and thinner than his brother, so he manage to slip through the hole and gaze up at what was through the hole.

"Well? What do you see?" Mario called up.

"Eh, no good, bro." Luigi called back. "Its just a empty field, full of grass and flowers. They all look fine, practically untouched. No one's ran or even walked through this field. Should I come down?"

"No, stay up there for a moment."

Mario sat in the dirty water and thought for a moment… he was smarter than most people gave him credit for. He WAS a doctor, after all, and has solved countless numbers of the Koopa Kings puzzles.

…"Luigi?"

"Yeah?"

"What COLOR are the flowers?"

"Oh, they are all very bright, like yellow and Orange."

Something clicked in Mario's head.

"Whoohoo! We've got a lead!"

Luigi leapt down and looked at his brother curiously.

"Whatta mean, big bro?"

"The attacker must have been wearing dark clothes. I couldn't even see an outline of them in this tunnel, even though they were holding some fire to help them see."

"yeah?"

"Well, it stands to reason that if this person was simply trying to escape willy-nilly, then they would of kept going down the pipes instead of creating an obvious hole in the ceiling where they could escape!"

Luigi pondered for a moment.

"That makes sense, but I still don't see where your going with it."

"Well, this must be a _pick up point!_" The older brother emphasized. "the attacker must be working with someone, who had some flying machine to pick them up!"

"That's true, bro, but if this was a pick-up point, there would have been signs, like a signal fire or tracks from vehicle waiting for him."

"But don't you see?" Mario was excited from the revelation. "If your wearing dark clothing in a bright field, you'd stick out like a sore thumb! They could of spotted that from the sky and carried them off!"

Luigi was silent for a moment.

"True, but what if this is just a red herring?" Luigi asked his brother. "I mean, it could of just been put here to mislead us."

Mario was quiet for a moment, thinking… but…

"No, it makes sense. It actually makes more sense now."

Luigi tilted his head out of curiosity.

"You said the field was untouched, right?"

"Righto."

"Well, then that means that the attacker couldn't of used that hole to get into this pipe in the first place. They must of come from the end of the pipe."

Luigi perked up.

"yeah, so they created that hole to confuse us, to seem unpredictable."

Mario nodded.

"Right. If he came through the pipe, then came BACK through the pipe, then we could be 100% on where the attacker came from, or at the very least we'd find some more definite clues. This way, we cant be sure that the end of the pipe has anything worthwhile."

"It could be a trap, also." Luigi piped in

"yep… so we can be fairly certain that he's not working alone. But we still cant be sure where they went, or even worse, who they are… that means…"

Luigi looked at Mario.

"Does this mean we have to walk right into the trap, bro?"

Mario let out his trademark "Yahoo!" and gave Luigi a thumbs up.

"…I was afraid of that."

~chapter 2 end~


	4. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I probably only had to say this once at the beginning of the story, but I like saying it every chapter. I tried to buy out the Mario Brothers, but Nintendo wanted more than $10, so I do not own them.

Authors note: IT'S A ME! POCRU! How's it all goin? We're on the third chapter! I want to apologize to people, right out. Mysteries are hard to work with. They're either A) too easy, B) Too hard, or C) downright confusing. I'm going to guess this whole thing is either A or C, but who knows? Maybe I'm doing great and I'm just being humble!

…yeah, I wish…

Chapter 3

A Trail of Crumbs

~*~

_It was a bright day, the sun was high in the sky, clouds puffy and soft against the blue ocean that was the sky. Song birds sang as sweetly as they did before, as if nothing had ever changed. A gentle spring breeze rushed through the hill where the tombstone lay, freshly dug for the deceased princess. The funeral had long ended, everyone was gone… except one man, who forfeit his usual red shirt and blue overalls for a black suit. his hat was off, gently being grasped in his hand: he had taken it off out of respect, but brought it in the first place because it was almost like an object of comfort to the morning man._

_Mario stared down at the tombstone, where the name "Princess Peach" was carved in solemn letters on the granite. It was a humble tomb, unlike the giant monument that people expected for her final resting place. Mario had requested it this way… he was pretty sure she wouldn't of wanted to waste time and money on something as useless as a giant tomb: its not like you would be around to enjoy it anyway._

_The silence of Mario's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a propeller in the distance. He didn't move. The vehicle landed near Mario and from the corner of his eye, Mario could see the giant dragon, also in a black suit he managed to get on himself, a huge bouquet of flowers in his arms._

_There was an awkward silence between the two. It was clear Bowser came alone._

_He didn't react as his arch-foe moved closer to the grave to place the giant mass of flowers on the top, before stepping back to get a better look at the gravestone. _

"_This is all your fault, you know." Mario stated in a cold, unfeeling way._

_Bowser growled._

"_My fault my ass, Plumber boy. If you were there to save her, then the only reason I'd be here is to take her away again."_

_Mario twitched. _

"_How could you say that? If you didn't kidnap her in the first place, then she wouldn't be dead right now!"_

_Bowser stomped his foot._

"_I did not kidnap her! I whisked her away to be my bride! If she wasn't so stubborn-"_

_Mario turned on his foe, rage in his eye, and rammed his fist right into Bowser's nose, knocking him over from the force of the impact._

"_DON'T TALK ABOUT HER LIKE THAT! IF YOU WEREN'T AROUND, SHE'D STILL BE HERE!"_

_Bowser stood up, and now that Mario got a good look at his rival, he noticed how red the dragon's eyes were… not from anger, but from tears._

"_YOU IDIOT! YOU THINK I __WANTED __THIS?"_

_Mario stopped. Bowser took a deep breath. They both realized that this wasn't the time. _

_They both turned towards the grave and silently forgave each other. _

~*~

The pipe was long.

Mario and Luigi had walked past the hole in the ceiling in order to get to the end of the pipe, but its been a good 30 minutes and they seemed to be no closer to reaching the end.

"You don't suppose, bro, that maybe the trap is simply the fact that this tunnel is too long? It could go for days, for all we know, and the flashlight cant last forever."

That was Luigi.

Mario stopped and turned to face his brother, the light from the flashlight blinding the tall one for a moment.

"Your right… the attacker must have some way to make fire, because they were using fire to get around… and fire doesn't run on batteries. But still… we should find out where this pipe leads…"

Luigi chimed in. "hey, we're plumbers, Mario! We gotta have a map of the sewer system somewhere! We'll just use that!"

Mario felt the urge to do a very hard face-palm.

"Your right… lets to back."

The brothers turned around and rushed home.

Luckily, the battery didn't run out.

~*~

At the Mario estate, both brothers shuffled through the bookshelves, looking for some sort of map, and it wasn't long until Mario found a good one. They laid it out on the ground and both brothers kneeled on opposite ends of it, holding it down with their knee's.

"Alright. So here's where we are…" they marked the location of their house earlier with a big M.

"Here's Eddies…" they traced a path from their house to the toad's.

"And this must be the pipe!" They spotted the green drawing of a pipe next to the toads, and followed the path it went through on the map, tracing it with their fingers. The pipe did seem to go quite a ways.

"Gee, it must of taken days to walk through all that."

Mario nodded. "they must be pretty desperate to take us out to walk through all those miles of pipe."

They traced the origin of the pipe (and what must have been the entrance for the attacker), back to Rougeport.

"So the attacker came from Rougeport?"

Mario thought for a moment.

"I doubt it. Rougeport is just the ideal place to start. I mean, the way the attacker was dressed: that wouldn't of stuck out as odd in Rougeport, everyone dresses like a villain there. The attacker would of blended in."

Luigi nodded.

"And theirs the 'honor amongst thieves' thing. Even if someone DID figure out who they were and what they were up too, they probably wouldn't squeal."

Mario looked up at his brother.

"Yeah, and even if not, unlike most upstanding citizens, anything can be purchased in Rougeport, even silence… how are we supposed to find any clues there? That place is littered with bad people, the whole town must have countless clues for endless crimes!"

Both brothers sat, perplexed. How would they find anything…?

…Mario snapped his fingers. "I got it!"

Luigi looked up at his brother hopefully. "Oh, yeah! That's my brother for ya!"

Mario blushed a little. "Well, you see how long the tunnel is, right?"

"Uh huh."

"We both agreed it must of taken days to walk through all that. And sure, they had their own light source, but what else would they need?"

Luigi leaped up excitedly.

"Food!"

Mario nodded.

"That's right! They would need lots of food and clean water to get them through the tunnel all those days, they could even easily hide it by letting all the food wash down to the end of the tunnel! Now, Rougeport has a lot of strange things in it, but people don't buy days supplies of food and water there! Even in hiding its easy enough to get food!"

Luigi had a thought.

"But wait, bro… it's a port town. There are sailors. They need to get food and water too."

Mario thought for a moment, his head down and his eyes closed. Then he leapt suddenly, from the moment of realization.

"Sailors don't buy their own food. The Captains provide it all for them, and they would need to buy so much that they couldn't go to your average store. They would need to go to a specialty place."

"ohh… right. So for a average shopkeeper wouldn't see sailors buying their own food, so seeing someone buy that much food in that much quantity would still be odd."

"And," Mario added, "Now we can be sure that the hole in the ceiling is a pick-up point. There's no way you could walk all the way there, then walk all the way back, without carrying so much food it would weight you down! Its starting to be clear!"

Both brothers let out a cheer and set their sights to Rougeport, to learn something about their attacker .

~end of chapter 3~


	5. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Okay, I'll come out straight: I don't do Mario brothers. I'd like too, if you could find me a seller.

Authors note: Chapter four! This is turning better than I thought! It's a shame I've gotten this far and I have no reviews or ANYTHING… a touch discouraging, but hey, at least people are clicking the link to my story. I know its not the greatest idea, and just seeing "Drama" in the genre section is a turn off… I suppose its more of a mystery. Maybe I should edit it.

~Chapter Four~

A Delicate Flower

~*~

"_Peach…" _

_Mario looked at the princess, rather awkwardly. In front of her was a half-eaten cake… again. _

"_...you've been eating a lot of cake recently. Are you okay?"_

_Peach smiled up at him, a dabble of frosting on her lip._

"_Yes, I'm fine! Its just good cake!"_

_Mario shifted in his seat opposite of her. She sent him another letter (she really liked to send letters, even in the age of email) asking him to join her for lunch, and lo and behold, when he got there, there was a nice plate of spaghetti where he was going to sit… but a cake before her seat. A half eaten cake before her seat. Apparently, she couldn't wait for him to get here._

_And this wasn't the first time, either. _

_He let out a small, awkward laugh and rubbed the back of his head from her explanation, the princess laughed a little more, in her usual dainty way, as a result of his laughter. _

"_Well, so long as your happy, princess. I would feel sick eating all that cake."_

_Peach tilted her head._

"_I suppose… but its just so good!" She took another bite-nibble with her fork._

_Mario took another giant slurp of his slightly more healthy meal. _

…_maybe she wanted to get fat so she couldn't get kidnapped again…?_

_~*~_

Rougeport was a rather lengthy ways away, but thankfully Mario had expressed a interest in connecting the town to a warp pipe closer to home a few years back (so he could more easily visit the place should the need arise), so really all the Mario's had to do was pack themselves some dinner and get out the door. Only a small walk to the pipe.

Both brothers stopped at the green warp pipe that would lead them to the town, looking out over the mushroom kingdom for a moment. The sun was setting and there was an orange tint in the sky, the wind gently brushing through their hair. It was a beautiful sight, and both of them took the time to appreciate the simple, yet complex beauty of the setting sun. Mario let out a small sigh… so many times he's had to save this land he was now looking out over from total destruction… and suddenly it all seemed so worthwhile. Sometimes you forget what your doing when your saving the world, you get to caught up in all the action.

"What are we waiting for, bro?" Luigi turned and smiled. "We have to get to Rougeport."

They both didn't really know why they paused. Maybe it just needed to happen.

"Right, right…" Mario turned away from the sunset and got into the warp-pipe, allowing his body to be wisped away to the distant town of Rougeport. Luigi followed closely after him.

Both brothers appeared on the docks of the town of thieves and bandits, and the port was busy as the final chores of the day for the sea fairing traders and pirates were warped up. A few of them noticed Mario and shouted a hearty hello, but other than that they were too busy to pay them much heed. This was fine with the hero of many legends, and both brothers made their way through town towards the shop. They were right next to the gallows when suddenly a voice called out from across town, a voice Mario recognized.

"Ohmygosh! I cant believe it! MARIO! OVER HERE!"

Mario turned his head in the direction of the nearly fangirlish calling and brightened up a little.

"Goombella!" He waved at her, and soon his old goomba partner had tackled the man to the ground, nuzzling into his chest.

"Its been, like, forever! How have you been!?"

She got off, blushing a little, when she realized they were in a public place and such strong expressions of affection could be misinterpreted. Luigi was laughing.

"Actually, not so good." Mario said, sitting up and looking down on the now-fully grown Mushroom girl: she was a full archeologist now, relatively well known in some circles, her hair still tied up in a ponytail.

"What's wrong?" She asked, clearly distressed by her friends troubles.

"We were attacked by a mysterious assailant in the pipes." Luigi filled in. "We came here to investigate."

The next few minutes were spent telling Goombella about their investigations and what they were exactly looking for. She, in turn, expressed a concern with their plan.

"That's all well and good, but your forgetting that there are three shops here. They could have gotten a reasonably small amount from each shop to cover their tracks."

Mario (who got back on his feet a good while back) cringed.

"You right. The attacker has been good at covering their tracks, I doubt they made the mistake of getting all their food at one place."

Then Mario looked at his old partner.

"I don't suppose you noticed anyone odd here a few days back. You have a talent for observation."

She shook her head.

"I'm afraid not. Its only a coincidence we ran into each other, did you think I would actually LIVE here? Gross! I just got here yesterday to continue my study on the door."

Mario and Luigi simultaneously sighed.

"But don't think that its hopeless." Goombella attempted to cheer them up. "You forget, there's still people in this town that somehow know EVERYTHING. you could try asking one of them! Have you tried Wonky?"

Luigi looked confused. "Who's he?"

"He's a strange little thing that seems to know everything that goes on in this town." Mario informed his less than street-smart brother, "He seems like he'd probably talk, for the right price, assuming the attacker didn't get to him first. How many coins do we got on us?"

Luigi flipped open his purse and peered inside.

"We got a good 50 coins."

"That should be enough. Come on, lets try him. You coming, Goombella?"

The mushroom nodded.

"Yeah! I wouldn't miss this for the world! I miss traveling with you!"

With Goombella in tow, the brothers entered the west side of town, smashed open the manhole (its not like they could just slip down through the cracks), and found their way to lower Rougeport's cola bar, where that old freak Wonky was standing, talking casually with a bandit… that is, until he noticed Mario and Co walk in.

"Well, well, what is it you want outta ol' Wonky? Its been a while…"

Mario stood opposite of him on the table.

"Someone attacked me and my bro yesterday while we were cleaning the pipes." Luigi said manner of fact-ly. "And we know that they got supplies in Rougeport and traveled to our location through a pipe here. Did you see anyone suspicious a few days back? Dressed in black? Carrying a lot of food?"

The fat, semi-human was quiet for a moment.

"Now, this is a first. Ol' Wonky cant say he has. There are a lot of iffy figures in town, can't say I would notice one more…"

"Oh…" all three said in unison.

A small "ding!" rang through the bar, and Mario could swear he saw a explanation point appear over a bob-ombs head in the corner. Quickly, it rushed over, excited that for the first time, it knew something that ol' Wonky didn't.

"Oh! Oh! I know! I saw!"

All the heads in the bar turned to look at the otherwise useless Bob-omb, all in surprise.

"It was weird! I saw this stranger appear out of nowhere! Dressed in all black! Couldn't see a single feature at first! All they did was go to each store, buy a bag of food at each one! I saw it! I thought they looked odd so I tailed em' for a while!"

Everyone in the bar knew (except Luigi) that this guy really just stalked people at random hoping to get useful information. It just happened to be a coincidence that he followed the person they were looking for.

"Once they stopped at all three stores, they just leapt into the sewer pipe and was gone!"

…that didn't give them all the information they would of liked.

After a moment of silence, to let the Bob-omb absorb this moment of personal triumph, Mario spoke up.

"I don't suppose you saw anything else… something that would help us figure out who this person is…?"

The Bob-omb was silent for a moment, trying to remember… then seemed to grin. He enjoyed this too much.

"Yeah! In fact, I did! Its crazy! As they were leaping down the tunnel, their hood came off! I could see! Long brown hair! And I remember something, like a flower! Yeah, a flower!"

Both brothers were quiet.

"Are you sure?" Goombella asked, seeing the distress that was in the brother's eyes.

"Positive! Long brown hair, and a flower!"

"it couldn't be… Daisy?" Luigi squeaked, sad and disbelieving.

Mario grabbed Luigi's arm.

"lets talk about this someplace else, okay?", he turned to the Bomb. "thanks for the info."

"Anytime!"

The brothers and Goomba walked out of the bar: it was nighttime now, the stars twinkling in the sky, a good share of them recognizing Mario from his days with them, and gave him an extra wink, weather or not he realized it. They checked into the Inn, and all three sat down to brainstorm.

"It cant be Daisy, it just cant." Luigi moaned. "What did I do to her?"

Mario looked over at Luigi. "I guess what you should ask is what DIDN'T you do? You have this habits of ignoring her."

"Can you blame him?" Goombella chirped in, "If she's so crazy that she'll attack you for attention, then you need to let this fish go."

"No," Luigi sighed, "she would never do that! That Bob-omb must be lying."

"Why would he lie?" Goombella asked. "He's been waiting for his day in the spotlight for years. He's always wanted to be an informant. I don't think there's any amount of money he would take over being able to give out a good tip. He would just be humiliated more if it turned out to be false."

No one questioned her. She had a habit of knowing that kind of thing.

Mario sighed. "We don't have much choice at the moment then to believe him. We'll confront Daisy tomorrow. We'll just calmly ask her how much about this she knows. Okay?"

Luigi grumbled, but didn't say anything. After all, if she was innocent (which he knew she was), then there was nothing to worry about. Besides, they desperately needed leads, and this was all they had. This attacker seemed to be invisible, after all.

With that in mind, all three silently went to bed, trying not to worry about the attacker, and instead think about sleep.

~chapter four end~


	6. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: If I owned the Mario brothers, would I be writing FANFICTION?

Authors note: Chapter five is here! In case you haven't noticed, I update daily. ^_^; its not like I have much else to fill the days.

Is Daisy really the villain? How will Luigi cope? Will Goombella be able to teach Mario how to love again? Find out none of those, and more, in this chapter! =D

ALSO! I got reviews! REVEIWS! Epic! Because of one of them, I should feel the need to state this: yes, my grammar can be bad. But trust me, I triple-check all these chapters before I post them, so I fix a lot of that crap before I put it up. I'll just have to try harder!

Thank you so much for the reviews, guys! 3

Chapter 5

~Of Roses and Thorns~

"_I have to admit, I'm a bit besides myself." Toadsworth declared, his eyes stained from tears and his throat sore from the sobs, "I've never known the Princess to be so rash in such a dangerous circumstance."_

_Mario was only silently half listening to the conversation between Toadsworth and : they invited him to speak a few words over tea to help ease the transition, but he only came to be polite… he wasn't in the mood do talk. He didn't even touch the tea before him. _

"_Really, now?" The scientist contemplated. He was sad at the knowledge of the Princess's death, but only like anyone would be sad at the news of anyone's death: he wasn't terribly well acquainted with the princess in the first place. "From what I recall, the princess once saved the Mario brothers themselves from that nasty old dragon. Trying to escape herself doesn't seem that far-fetched."_

_Toadsworth shook his head sadly. "That was only when she knew she was the only one who could save them, and she even had a magical umbrella to help. This time she was on her own, and normally she's content just waiting because she knew that Mario would come and save her."_

_ shrugged. "perhaps something came up. Maybe she found some vital information and needed to give it to Mario. Or maybe she discovered a simply marvelous invention and needed to make sure King Koopa never uses it."_

_Mario looked up at , but dropped his head soon after. Maybe… if he was just faster…_

_Toadsworth spoke, sniffing in another tear. "Perhaps. Bowser has a habit of flaunting his plans. She probably saw something he had and didn't want the people to suffer from its use. "_

_, with that thought in his noggin, started to wonder aloud. "If that was the case, then after her death, wouldn't of he continued with his plans...?"_

_Mario finally spoke up, speaking monotone and lifeless._

"_No. She was the reason he wanted to take over the world."_

_Both old men were quiet after those words were spoken. It was clear that this conversation was over._

~*~

Mario was moderately well aquatinted with Sarasa land, the kingdom that Daisy ruled over, but he was hardly the celebrity here that he was in the Mushroom Kingdom. Oddly enough, Luigi was more well known here, probably due to his not-so-under-taps relationship with the Princess. So when both brothers (and Goombella, who decided her research could wait) were at the gates to her castle, it was Luigi who had to drop his name before the guard would let them pass.

Once inside, the brothers quickly located the nearest servant of the royal family.

"Excuse me," Luigi asked, taking the wheel from Mario, who usually lead such things, "But I'm looking for the Princess…?"

The Servant stared at him for a moment, contemplative.

"If I say 'your princess is in another castle', will you hurt me?"

All three glared at the servant, who got the message.

"Yeah, she's here. I think she's in the courts in the yard, practicing tennis."

"Thank you." Luigi said, perhaps a touch insincerely, and the trio navigated through the halls of the large castle to the courts, where indeed, the princess was in her usual sporting attire, shorts and a tank-top. Her crown was still balancing on her head somehow, and her trademark flower earrings were hanging from her ears. Both her hands were holding a racket, which was not swinging at anything at the moment, as she was waiting for the machine on the other end of the court to fire: it appeared she didn't notice the three's arrival.

All there looked at each other. She seemed to be very much absorbed in this activity, and they were all hesitant to distract her… but eventually, Luigi spoke up. The sooner they could clear her name, the better.

"Daisy!" he called to her cheerfully. She turned her head, expecting to see a annoyed servant or a troublesome fan, but the moment she recognized who she was looking at, she brightened up and smiled widely.

"Luigi! I'm glad you're here! You don't visit me often enough! I have no one to practice with." She called over, but was still in her tennis stance: though she let a ball fly past her shoulder.

Luigi blushed a little. "Well, I'd love too help you practice later, but that's not why I'm here, I'm afraid."

She looked concerned. "Why? What's wrong?" She set down her racket and walked away from the court towards her sweetheart, completely neglecting to turn off the machine… she didn't really care anyway, she'd just have the servants pick up the balls.

Luigi hesitated... how to go about doing this?

"Wait, why's Mario here too? And what's this Goomba thing?" She said, prodding Goombella with her finger, much to the outspoken yet ignored objection of the archeologist.

"That's my brothers friend. Goombella. She's cool."

"Oh…" She seemed distrustful, but that's to be expected. The poking stopped, but the silent grumblings of the Mushroom sure didn't.

"Anyway, whats up?" she asked, clearly losing a little patience, but willing to put up with it for Luigi.

Mario was silent.

_She certainly seems innocent, and I admit I really cant think of a reason she would attack us… but we still have to check. We cant just ask her right out, she'd undoubtedly get offended…_

Before Mario could fully analyze the situation, his brother spoke.

"Have you heard of Rougeport, by any chance?"

She scoffed.

"Um, yeah. You told me all about it when you were trying to save that Princess Éclair tramp."

Not a good moment in their relationship.

"Yeah, well… um… bro, didn't you have something you wanted to ask her?" Luigi was red in the face from nervousness and fear of inciting her wrath. Mario decided to step up, though he wasn't entirely sure how to go about this.

"Uh Huh. Well, Daisy…" Mario was still a little worried about asking the questions. The last thing he wanted to do was make her angry.

"…I was wondering. Are you afraid of the dark?"

She seemed confused. Even he thought that was a pretty weak attempt.

"Odd question. No, I'm not. Why?"

Mario grew silent. The brothers weren't good at the interrogation game, especially when it was someone they both cared about. However, Goombella, who didn't have the emotional attachment to her as the brothers did (an in fact had a healthy amount of distaste for now) stepped up to the plate.

"I'll be frank, Princess," She started, "The Mario Brothers were recently attacked by an assassin, and according to eyewitnesses, you're the primary suspect." Both brothers were shaking their heads "No" in an attempt to subtlety hint at the goomba that she was making a mistake, but these actions were ignored.

"WHAT?!?" The princess yelled, indignantly and angrily. "How DARE you accuse me of attacking my friends!"

"If you're not guilty, then you'll have no problems with answering a few questions!"

"I cant believe you would accuse me!" She yelled at the brothers, who were both looking away in shame. "After all I've done for you!"

"Look, sister," Goombella started, "The witness claimed he saw the attacker had long brown hair and a flower. He's the only lead we got in this case, so I made the brothers follow up!" She was attempting to cushion the blow for them.

Daisy looked angerly at the Goomba. "Fine. Ask you stupid questions. But don't expect any hospitality from me." She glared daggers at the Goomba, but Goombella simply glared back with equal ferocity.

"Now, do you own any dark clothing?"

"No. Its mostly orange."

"Do you go off by yourself at all?"

"All the time. I don't need escorts."

"…do you own any hovering vehicles?"

"No."

"Do you know anyone who owns one of those?"

"The only hovercraft I know of come from Tatanga and Bowser. And I would rather die then work with THOSE creeps."

Browser's floating Clown-car thing, and the ships that the aliens that kidnapped her rode in, specifically. But everyone knew that. However, this was significant. The Mario brothers hadn't figured it out at this point, but if the field the attacker used to escape in was untouched, that meant nothing could of landed in the field: it would have had to hover over it and drop a ladder or something. But when Mario heard Goombella ask this question, it clicked in his head.

"One last question. Can we see your feet?"

…silence. Even the brothers didn't know why she asked that. Daisy was silent for a moment.

"Why?"

"Mario and Luigi tell me that the attacker had to walk for days through a pipe that has a good stream of water through it. They also tell me the attacker had mostly quiet footsteps, so one would of had to either be barefoot or wear some sort of special shoe. In any case, your feet... should reek… If you're the attacker."

Days of walking through sewage would make your feet smell for a long, long time, no matter how often you washed. Daisy sighed…

"Fine. Whatever."

She pulled off her shoes and socks, wiggling her now exposed toes: they were sweaty, but even then if she was the attacker they would have been able to smell the sewer on them. Begrudgingly, Goombella took a whiff.

…

"They smell, but not of sewer water. She's clean."

Luigi let out a massive sigh of relief. "Oh, thank goodness. I knew it couldn't be you, but I still worried…"

Daisy stuck out her tongue at him, in a more playful way. She must of forgiven him for his blunder. "Well, I'm glad. I mean, not glad that you almost died, but glad that you confirmed my innocence. Now, I have to get back to…"

She turned to face the court, only to see that the automatic ball shooter was no longer facing down the court, but was rather pointed right in their direction. And sitting where there should have been rubbery balls ready to fire, there were rocks. And you could just barely tell, but it seemed that the speed was set to maximum.

…it fired.

Right at Mario.

They were fast, but Goombella pushed the man out of the way, making him fall to the ground. The rock flew past him and crashed into the window behind him, smashing it into a thousand pieces. It continued to fire rocks, like a machine gun, all through the window and right over Mario, who was on the ground. He was staring with disbelief at the machine, but he eventually caught himself, crawled out of the way, and stood up away from the stream of fire.

Luigi got to the machine and carefully turned it off while Mario brushed off his pants.

They were all silent.

"Well, at least we learned that they're after Mario."

~end chapter 5~


	7. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I'll get directly to the point: I don't own the Mario Bro's.

Authors note: You know, the hardest thing about Mysteries is that it requires a lot of planning. And often times when I'm in the middle of a chapter, I realize: Oh, wait, that doesn't make sense. What if (so and so) realized this? So I have to change things up.

However, I'm thankful for the fact that so far its all be manageable! Ultimately, I'm glad I think of them, otherwise there could be some huge plot holes.

Keep reading! Thanks!

Chapter 6

~Turning the Tide~

_Toadette was one of peach's friends. They weren't as close as best friends would be, but that was fine: it allowed them to help each other when they couldn't trust their own best friends… if they had something to hide and needed a impartial helper. _

_It was a crisp fall morning when the female toad got a letter from peach. A nondescript letter, simply stating._

_-Dear Toadette_

_I would like to see you in the castle later tonight. I need help._

_-Peach_

_Now, Toadette was hesitant at first: the Princess had never been like this before, and usually she had more of a feminine touch to her writing. Why would she send such a bland letter? At first she worried about fowl play, but in that case, why call her? Mario would have been a better choice with just about any serious problem. But then again, the princess could be a touch eccentric at times. Who knows? In any case, she set her mind to helping the princess, and later that night she snuck into the castle and into the princess's bedroom._

_Words were exchanged._

_It was made clear why Mario couldn't help._

_Toadette promised to help, and both girls started to prepare for the following morning. They had a long road ahead of them._

~*~

The entire area surrounding the tennis court was checked and re-checked. Guards were called to search the surrounding areas in airplanes to check for anything odd. But nothing was found. The attacker was like a ghost: it snuck in, set up a trap for Mario, and was gone as quick as the wind. All four witnesses sat outside, next to the court, and discussed things.

"Well, a boo seems most likely." Luigi said aloud. "they could hide at will, after all, and would have a easy time leaving no tracks."

"No," Mario stated bluntly, "I heard footsteps in the pipe when they were running, they must be corporeal. Besides, if it were a boo, it wouldn't need food or to make a hole in the wall." Luigi slumped over as his theory was obliterated.

"I think its got to be a human," Mario continued, "because the Bob-omb described hair. I don't know any-"

A giant, obvious cough came from Goombella, and when Mario looked at her she flipped her hair in his face.

"Human nothing." She interrupted. "Most anything can grow hair, and anything CAN wear a wig. If I had to put my money on it, Its probably someone who was intentionally framing Daisy."

Everyone looked at her with interest.

"Well, add two and two, guys. The Bob-omb described Daisy-like features, and when we come over here to find stuff out, you guys are attacked again. They must have been waiting for us to get here. How else would they know where we would be? Duh."

Daisy scoffed.

"That's fine in theory. But how would the assassin get past security? There are patrols around the castle walls everywhere, and they didn't get seen ONCE? Not likely."

Mario shrugged.

"Could be a inside job. Didn't Tatanga use brain control? He could be controlling the minds of random people and attacking with them."

"But bro, in that case," Luigi corrected, "then he wouldn't need to let the people he's controlling escape. He would let us catch them each time, make us feel secure, then just attack again with someone new."

"Gah, this is so annoying!" Daisy explained, clearly frustrated, "This person's leaving no trail, no clues, no ANYTHING to work with! Its impossible!"

Everyone was quiet for a moment, mulling this over in their heads.

"Well… maybe we can use that to our advantage…" Mario pondered aloud, breaking the silence. Everyone turned to him.

"See, we've checked everyone and everywhere. Not a clue or hint, right?"

Daisy nodded.

"All the guards haven't seen a thing and there's not even a misplaced rock to work with."

"Well, after the first attack, there were enough clues for us to figure out, perhaps as the attacker was hoping, that Daisy was a suspect, and they were able to ambush us once we got here. I mean, its unlikely they got through security, but its hardly impossible if your careful, or if you have some sort of cloakable flying machine."

Mario put his finger on the table and swirled it around.

"That means that if there are no clues, there's no way we can enter a trap of theirs like we did this time. So, that means they're going to have to find us by themselves this time."

Goombella caught on, and started to fill In what she understood.

"Yeah… and so that mean's the attacker will have to do their own investigation to find where you'll be next in order to strike, so that means…"

Daisy realized the plan, and took the wheel.

"…that means that they're completely dependant on the clues YOU guy's leave behind. They're not around now, so they can only guess and use clues to figure out where to ambush you next!"

Everyone stared at Luigi.

"…what?"

Mario decided he'd fill the gaps for his brother.

"That means that if we carefully leave hints about where we'll go next, we can set up our OWN trap for the attacker when they get there to try to trap US."

"Oh!" Luigi nodded. "That makes sense, and it's a good plan, but… see, the attacker probably knows that they didn't leave any clues behind. Wouldn't they by default go to our house and set up a trap there? I mean, logically there's no place else we would go."

Mario smiled at his brother in a almost mischievous way.

"Exactly. I have a friend who just happens to be a mailman." He winked.

"Right!" Goombella exclaimed excitedly. "They'll be bound to check your mail! Here's what we should do: Luigi, you're friends with , yes?"

Luigi nodded.

"We'll have him send a letter to your house claiming he's invented something that will help you catch the culprit, and in the letter he'll give a location for you guys to meet. Now, they're probably at your house right now, waiting for you. Mario, you have that friend of yours send that letter as soon as possible, so it would make sense that it gets to your house before YOU get home."

Mario nodded.

"The attacker will realize this will be a prime spot to set up a trap, and will rush off, assuming that you guy's haven't gotten home yet in order to get the mail. JUST to be safe, have that buddy of yours mutter something about how you guy's aren't home yet from Daisy's, but don't make it too obvious, that would be suspicious."

Goombella caught her breath: she had been talking for a while now.

"Naturally, you guy's will already be at the location the Letter specifies when the attacker gets it. Wait in the shadows, and when the assailant appears, nab em'!"

Daisy looked approvingly at the Goomba.

"That's a good plan… and it just might work!"

Goombella nodded.

"Thanks! But we have to start right now. Mario and Luigi, contact your buds right now. The faster we do this, the better chance it will work."

And with that, the preparations were made to set a trap for the assassin.

~End of Chapter 6~


	8. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: The only thing Mario-related I own… doesn't exist!

Authors note: Hi! Its-a-me! You know, I actually do a lot of research for this fanfic. There's a whole lot about the Mario universe I don't know, so I try to stay consistent and think of how logic and physics would work in this world. For example, I had to look up what Daisy's kingdom is called, and the name of the alien that kidnapped her. =3 lots of hard work. Hope you appreciate that!

Chapter Seven

~Traps and Traps and Traps~

_Mario had to admit, he was worried about peach._

_His business at the castle was different this time from the usual invitation to join the princess for a meal. This time, it was just to pick up his laundry, which he asked a toad servant to do for him sense his washing machine had broken down. However, while he was here, he sneaked a peak at the Princess, and to his distress: more cake. She was eating it, taking small bites that clearly added up: half of the cake was gone already. _

_...she was even starting to gain weight. _

_Worried that this might be some plan from Bowser to feed her addictive cake or something along those lines, he snuck into the kitchen (his clothes neatly folded up in his hands to prevent them from getting dirty) and did a little sleuthing. And what did he find? No crazy ingredients, no special sauce or magic sprinkles… it all was so normal. Maybe the cake really was just so good it was addictive. Must have been one heck of a recipe. _

_And the Princess DID like her cakes. _

_However, just before he left, he checked the place over again, just to be safe, but this time he did notice something rather odd… he had neglected to check the garbage the first run around simply because he figured nothing would be there. But when he did check it the second go around, he noticed that there was half a cake in it. The cake was half gone, but other than that, it looked fine… or rather, it WOULD have been fine, but now it was disgusting from being in the garbage. Peach must of eaten half of it… but why not the rest?_

…_maybe something was just wrong with that one. Really, though, it was nothing he could work with, so he simply dismissed it._

_He would just have to have a talk with the princess later about controlling her appetite. _

~*~

Luigi and Mario were quick to send messages on their Mailbox SP's (they were reluctant to upgrade to the new Mailbox DSi) and within moments they got confirmations on both parties to agree to the plan. Parakarry would rush over to 's to pick up the letter, and would deliver it as quickly as he could. was more than happy to write a fake letter directing the attacker to the trap. It was all working out nicely. The brothers decided the best place for the trap would be a place where they had a lot of friends who could hide easily, and the attacker would have a hard time escaping: Bow's Mansion.

She was the leader of this band of Boo's, after all, and a good friend of Mario's. And he DID save them from all being eaten by Tubba Bubba, so he was fairly certain they would be willing to help: he sent a Email to Bow to confirm their cooperation: she promised to help, much to Mario's (not necessarily Luigi's) relief.

After all this was complete, the brothers said their apologizes and goodbyes to Daisy and was off to the mansion, so they didn't really have time to mess around. It was clear that the attacker had some mode of transportation that was superior to the bro's, so they had to get there fast: the princess provided a quick ride out of the kingdom she ruled over, then the two brothers were on their own after that. For diplomatic reasons.

Goombella was still with them: she wanted to see this out to the end, after all, and she had a good head on her… shoulders…?

In any case, she was a boon.

From the border, they had to find some way to get to Forever Forest, where Bow said she would send a Boo to help lead them to the mansion. Fortunately, though, they were close to Koopa Village, a place that Mario recognized: and it was already on the track they needed to go to get to the mansion. So with high hopes and fast feet, the brothers rushed to the lost woods, passing by a few towns and simply running: if there was one thing those brothers could do, its run without ever getting tired.

They did lead rather active lifestyles, after all.

Regardless, they were at the edges of the Forever Forest by the end of the day, and twilight was settling into the sky: the prefect ambient lighting for the situation. At the edge of the Forever Forest, both Luigi and to some extent, Goombella were hiding behind the man in red: it looked like both of them haven't quite gotten over their fears of dark scary places.

"Come on, guys. These Boo's are our friends, relax."

Goombella shivered. "I'll relax when they stop being creepy."

Luigi shivered as well. "Bro… g-g-ghosts… I hate… ghosts…"

Mario chuckled, amused. "Your both big girls now, you can survive an encounter with a ghost."

Luigi sounded indignant. "Hey!"

Mario just laughed and went into the forest, Goombella and Luigi following behind him closely. It was as dark and creepy as it has always been, but they hadn't been wandering long before they ran into a Boo, with its trademark toothy grin plastered on its face.

"Mario… I'll take you to the mansion… but… If I get shy…"

It turned away, its arms covering its face. Mario knew what was coming. Luigi and Goombella, not so much.

It turned.

_**"WILL YOU HOLD ME?!?"**_

It screeched, its mouth open wide exposing its sharp teeth and its wiggling purple tongue. Its stumpy arms flailing against its now huge body. Goombella and Luigi both screamed, terrified, while Mario just looked calmly on. Its not like Boo's haven't been doing that for years. After a few moments of screeching, the ghosts went back to normal size and snickered at the now unconscious Goomba and man.

"heh heh… sorry. This way."

It started to float down the path: Mario followed, dragging the two heart attack victims by their collars.

"So… Your Mario, yes?"

"That's me." Mario replied. He wasn't feeling terribly talkative, but the boo clearly wanted to small talk, so why not?

"Yes, I've heard tales of your exploits, especially with Tubba Bubba."

The boo took a right turn, Mario following obediently.

"Well, I just did what anyone would do…" the hero bashfully replied. He tried to maintain his humility.

"Oh, but that's no small feat. Lady Bow is quite taken with you, I must confess. Whenever she talks about you she always has this twinkle in her eye…"

Mario took another right, following the boo.

"Well, we're good friends."

There was silence for a few moments as the Boo guided them deeper into the woods.

"And your brother, you know. I've heard of him too." The boo stated, tired of the quiet… now that Mario thought about it, its been a while sense he's seen the ghosts face, its back had been turned on Mario the whole time… and its voice was certainly starting to shift: not much, but noticeably. Was something wrong?

"Really, now?" Mario laughed nervously.

"Yes. I did a fine job vanquishing King Boo… I've heard all HIS tales as well…"

Mario gulped, and saw the escort turn a left. He hesitated.

"What's wrong?" The boo called back, still not turning around. "The Mansion is this way…"

The other two started to come too (because when I said "heart attack" I meant "scared unconscious") and looked puzzlingly at Mario. Mario, in turn, stepped back… he didn't trust this Boo at all. Slowly, the Boo started to turn.

"Whats wrong, Mario? Do you not trust me?"

The boo swerved instantly, exposing his face, and flew past the brothers, nabbing their Mailbox SP's and after getting out of the brothers reach, he turned and faced them again, a cruel, angry smile on his face.

"Your brother did a knock-up job ruining OUR plans, now I'm going to ruin yours!" The boo yelled: clearly, this wasn't a boo working for Bow, but rather one that was loyal to the king boo. The Brothers glared up, enraged at the Boo, but could only watch as he stated to float away.

"Now you're going to get lost in these woods forever, and there's no way you can escape!" It turned and flew away, laughing the whole time. There was silence as the trio contemplated this new turn of events.

Finally, Goombella broke the silence.

"…damn."

~End of Chapter 7~


	9. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Absolutely nothing. Even this computer is borrowed.

Authors note: Hi! I've left you on quite the cliffhanger, haven't I? How will the Mario Brothers escape Forever Forest, let alone how will they get to the mansion before the attacker? Who is that Boo working for, if anyone? Will Bow ever teach Mario how to love again? To find out, keep reading, cherished readers! But remember: nothing is as it seems!

Chapter Eight

~An Ironic Twist~

"_It's been a week."_

_Luigi looked down on his bedridden brother, who was curled up in a ball in his bed, almost as if he was trying to simply disappear. In response to his brother's news, Mario shifted, but didn't even look up._

"_Bro, come on! We have work to do! Peach wouldn't want you to put your life on hold because of this!"_

_Mario didn't move. It had been three day's sense the man had last eaten… this was getting troubling. Was Mario really that emotionally attached to Peach? _

…_Luigi sighed. It was time for BOTH of them to man up. The younger brother grabbed Mario's leg and pulled him out of bed: he didn't resist. Luigi dragged him across the house, out the door, and into town. People stared. Gawked, even, as the half-dressed Mario was dragged around like a doll. A few asked questions. A few more just whispered. One or two people even laughed. But despite all this, Luigi pressed forward, unwilling to surrender to the humiliation they were both getting._

_They reached a bridge overlooking a river. Luigi dumped the corpse-like body of his brother into it. _

_Mario was caught by surprise. He had his eyes half-closed in a daze this whole time, and when the water hit his body he was shocked awake, and started to flail around for air. Eventually he mustered up the strength and swam to shore, where he realized exactly where he was and what he was dressed in. Quickly feeling anger swell up in him, he rushed over to the bridge and grabbed Luigi: he was awake now, in any case. _

"_Why did you do that to me? HUH?" Angrily he spat in his brothers face, who didn't flinch. Instead, he calmly replied._

"_I'm sorry, I was under the impression that you were Mario. When I found it was just some pathetic fish in his bed, I thought I would return him to the river."_

~*~

Mario sat on the trunk of a tree. Luigi was placed next to him on the ground, fidgeting and constantly looking around, jumping at his own shadow. Goombella was leaning against a tree, kicking some dirt.

"Who was that Boo? Was he working for the attacker?"

Mario thought carefully. "I'm not sure. If he was, then that would mean that the attacker knew it was a trap, or at least hired him to stay there just in case it was. But on the other hand, he seemed more angry about King Boo, so perhaps he was just trying to get revenge for his fallen monarch. In any case, he took our SP's so we cant contact anybody…"

Luigi looked over at Mario.

"I don't think he was working for the attacker, Bro. I mean, it would explain a lot, but he was expecting us and knew he was supposed to guide us. The attacker may have expected a trap, but they wouldn't of ever been able to guess that we were supposed to be escorted by a Boo. He must have been under cover in Bow's mansion and she just happened to chose him to guide us, and he saw it as a great opportunity to avenge that king…"

Goombella moaned angrily.

"It doesn't really matter right now, right now we have to think of some way out of here!"

The brothers shook their heads in unison.

"I don't have any way to reach Bow from here… and the only portable warp-pipe I own is at home…" he was referring to the pipe given to him in Flipside.

It seemed rather hopeless. All three looked around desperately: the sun had fallen out of the sky and stars started to twinkle in the sky… it was very pretty, thanks to the absence of light, but due to that fact they also were stuck here till the morning. Not that light would really help, they were lost in FOREVER FOREST, and they don't call it that because it took forever to think of a name. Crickets started to chirp, and naturally the other assorted unsettling noises started to sound.

Indeed, things were not looking good. How could they possibly get out of here?

…a rustling in the background. A light shined in the distance, much like a will o' the wisp.

…"do you see t-t-that?" Luigi trembled. It came from the forest, but unlike the sounds and lights that were simply illusions to scare people, this one sounded and seemed genuine (Mario had an ear for such things). Mario got up carefully and started to listen: yes, it was movement. Someone was navigating the forest! In fact… if you listened carefully…

"_Are you sure its this way?"_

"_Dammit, why did they have to pick here?"_

"_okay… I found it."_

It was too far away to distinguish any features, but it was defiantly a voice. It was like they were talking to someone… but how? Probably Via a radio or something… it must have been the same people who picked them up back at the pipe. The attacker also had a flashlight, to help them see, but sense they were on the other side of it you couldn't tell anything by the light: they must have been wearing their trademark dark clothing.

"Is that the attacker?" Luigi whispered to Goombella.

"I think so…"

Mario tiptoed to his brother and extended his hand to help him up.

"Get up," he whispered as well, "I think this is our golden opportunity. We should follow them to bow's mansion."

His partners nodded, and slowly got up, and did the best they could to be silent as they followed the rustling in the bushes and the light. Really, the three had a lot going for them: the attacker was still talking, and there was a lot of ambient noises in the background: it would be hard to distinguish that from their movement… they were able to follow a good ten feet away from the attacker without being noticed.

What made things easier was the fact that they had the opportunity to follow the flashlight, so it was easy for them to keep an eye on the attacker. All they had to do was stay out of sight, which wasn't easy seeing as the dark-cloaked figure continued to move the flashlight around. They were looking for the hints that would tell them which way to go to the mansion, but there was so much forest and bush here that it was easy to find a PLACE to hide, if nothing else, when the light started to shine in their direction.

That, and Mario could still change dimensions, should the need arise to hide that way.

However, that was not needed, and like kids pretending to be Ninja's, the three carefully followed the flashlight, and the attacker, through the forever forest towards the mansion: this was working after all! Sure, not as smoothly as it would of gone before, but still…

Wait, more talking. Still indistinguishable, probably because they were whispering.

"_I don't know, I could swear I'm being followed."_

"_No…"_

"_Just a feeling. Maybe its just the forest, but… I'd like to be sure."_

"_Okay."_

The attacker was cautious. All three of them got behind tree's and cast nervous glances at each other: what was the attacker about to do? It wasn't long until they found out: it clicked off the lights and continued on their way through the forest, running now: Mario and Luigi and Goombella had to act fast, that person was their only avenue out of this joint, and they were getting away!

…"Quick," Mario yelled, "After them! Stealth doesn't matter anymore, there's only one place they can go!"

All three leapt out of their hiding place and ran after the attacker: Luigi following Mario and Goombella following Luigi: but how was Mario following the figure cloaked in darkness at night in a dark forest? He used what little light there was to see the leaves, the tree's, and the bushes… and he followed the dark blob that almost perfectly blended in. See, while things in the forever forest were all dark colored, nothing was completely black, unlike the robes: it was like finding a blob of ink on a very dark portrait. It was straining to the eye, but it was all he had to go by

He chased the attacker, who was now clearly aware of being followed and could see Mario and Co in plain sight, but was unable to confront him directly (they were outnumbered AND outmatched). They continued to try to escape his watchful eye, but was never able to. They ran, Mario followed.

Eventually, it spoke… or rather, SHE spoke. He could hear her very clearly this time, her voice panicked as she spoke into the raido.

"I have to get out of here! They're going to get me! Pick me up!"

…a sweet voice.

He stopped, causing Luigi and Goombella to bump into him, looking at him in confusion.

"What's wrong, bro? We have to get her! She's the attacker!"

"Mario! Come on, she's right there!"

As he stood, staring at the dark figure, a white vehicle appeared in the sky: cup-shaped, with the very distinct design of a twisted clown… the Koopa Clown Car. It dropped a rope ladder, which the woman attacker grabbed, and was soon off into the sky, staring down at the Brothers: you couldn't see it, but you could feel it.

…that voice.

Luigi, who could see the cup in the sky and knew what was happening, ran around his stunned brother and jumped, trying to grab the ladder, but the vehicle pulled away quickly and started to go off, with Luigi staring at it from where he landed. Goombella was bumping into Mario, trying to awake him from his stupor, calling his name in vain. Some calls came from the distance: Boo's, friendly ones, who were sent out to look for the lost party after hearing about the betrayal from the traitorous boo that first trapped them. It was all so chaotic in Mario's head, as it all happened within moments of each other, but one thing stuck in his brain.

That woman's voice…

…That sweet, beautiful voice…

…Peach's voice.

~End of Chapter eight~


	10. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I own the Mario brothers in my imagination. And do I do some twisted things to em' there! X3

Authors note: I have a confession for ya'll: I'm more of a MarioxGoombella shipper than I am a MarioxPeach shipper, even thought it's a hopeless paring (MarioXPeach is cannon, I'm afraid). I don't know what it is about it, but I really, really like that couple! Probably because I find Goombella so cute. Anyway, you may see some undertones of that paring in the future (but because this isn't a romance don't expect anything big). Thanks for the continued reviews, I was afraid that this mystery would be too easy, but Im glad that's not the case.

* * *

But remember: nothing can be trusted in the Mario world! Is Peach the attacker, who somehow came back from her game over? Is it another trick to try to fool the brothers? Will Toadsworth be able to teach Mario how to love again? To find out, keep reading, dear readers! 3

Chapter Nine

~Webs that Catch Spiders~

_Mario sighed. This was a day he was not looking forward too in the least. He stood before the doors to the Princess's throne room, trying to convince himself he was doing the right thing… but he couldn't help but be scared. Its not like this wasn't a sensitive topic, and he really had no idea why she was doing it… but what he did know is that it had to stop. Sure, he wasn't the best example for physical fitness, but that didn't mean she should throw away her heath and replace it with cakes, morning till dawn._

_Finally ready, he pushed open the doors to her throne room, where there was peach: she had gained a lot of weight sense he last saw here. Her belly was sticking out, her chest was much larger, and all in all she was a bigger girl. She noticed his arrival, set aside ANOTHER cake, and looked at him with a smile._

"_Why, I wasn't expecting you today! What can I help you with?"_

_Mario fidgeted a little, and shifted his gaze away from her._

"_Well… see, princess, I've noticed that you've been eating a lot more cake lately."_

_The Princess nodded. "Yes, I suppose. It's just so good!"_

"_And, I want you to be happy, you know that right? I'd never try to hurt you."_

_She nodded. "Yes, I know. What are you getting at?"_

"_Well… it's come to my attention that you've… maybe… gained a little weight."_

_She stared dumbly at him. Could she really be this oblivious?_

"_I mean, you still look nice, it's just… not very good for you, you know. So… maybe if you cut back on the cakes and tried some more…"_

"_Your calling me FAT, aren't you?" she bluntly asked, tears starting to appear in her eyes. Mario, in turn, started to shake his head vibrantly and wave his hands dismissingly._

"_No! No! Never! You're not fat, you just need to be a little more-"_

"_Oh, I can see through this, Mario! I wasn't born yesterday!" She cried, turning from him and wiping away the tears, "You think I'm ugly and fat!" _

"_No! Really! I-"_

_She jumped from her chair and ran out the door, past the frantic plumber, who gave chase, yelling after her, trying to calm the emotionally crippled princess down. _

~*~

"Its not Peach. It has to be another trick." Goombella stated flat out.

"It would make sense." Luigi chimed in. "The attacker probably knows how emotionally attached Mario is to the princess. They probably prepared some fake voice machine just in case they would get caught so they could use it as a distraction to escape."

…Mario slowly nodded.

"Flawful had a hat that could steal voices…" he added into the conversation… "It wouldn't be too far-fetched to think he had a 'copy' of her voice and decided to use it… it certainly worked…"

"Or just anyone who might of happened to come across that kinda technology." Luigi mentioned. "Or magic. Or whatever it was."

The three adventures were sitting at a table, safely nuzzled inside the confines of Bow's Manor. Hot tea was before each member, and they sat comfortably considering who the attacker could have been… and who their support could be (even thought it seemed obvious, it was best to think things over). Mario was sitting with a slump in his back, clearly disturbed by the voice of peach he thought he would never hear again. Luigi was sitting up, relaxed, but still had the anxiousness of being in a haunted mansion tickling his nerves, his tea untouched. (there was a sprinkle of cinnamon in it, which Luigi hated for the most part) Goombella, on the other hand, was now completely at ease with the ghost situation, but slightly worried about Mario's condition.

In the forest, after the attacker escaped, It wasn't long before the distant calls of the Boo's were responded too, and they lead the lost lambs back to the mansion, where it was explained what happened. Bow didn't chose who would be the escort, she simply asked someone to do it, and that Boo took advantage of the opportunity to try to off the brothers. When he came back, with both MailBox SP's in his grubby little paws, all the lies in the world couldn't save him, and they eventually got the truth out, at which point he reluctantly told where he abandoned the brothers.

In the mansion, they were given some food, the hot tea, and seats before a table and asked to wait for Bow to arrive: she hadn't appeared yet, so they discussed what was going on while they waited: it had been a good ten minutes.

"Still" Luigi added hesitantly, "Peach would kinda make sense… she might be, like, some vengeful ghost who wants revenge for Mario not-"

"Shh!" the goomba interrupted. "That's stupid, she would never do that!"

Mario looked down, "its not like I don't deserve it…" he sighed…

"Oh, stop being so emo." Goombella insisted. "You did your best, it's not your fault, everyone knows that."

He looked away… that was true, but that didn't stop it from hurting.

"In any case…" Goombella continued, trying to change topics, "that getaway vehicle was defiantly the Koopa Clown Car. Do you suppose Bowser is behind all this?"

Luigi shrugged. "I dunno. This whole thing has been one trick after another. I don't know if the Koopa Clown Car is really a lead or just another trap."

Goombella nodded. "True enough, but its worth looking into. You still have the energy to get into Bowser's castle, right?"

They both nodded. They could do that in their sleep.

"Then we might want to check there. If Bowser is responsible, taking him out would be just as good as catching the Assassin."

Then, without warning, the door was thrown open dramatically, and Lady Bow fluttered in, Bootler solemnly following her.

"Mario! Its been AGES, I fear!"

…in fact, it has been a long time. She was taken aback when she first laid eyes on him. She, being a ghosts, hasn't aged a year. But Mario is a mortal man, and seeing the years do their thing on him might have been a surprise for the immortal.

"Oh my… those are some fairly nasty wrinkles you've got there, dear."

Mario didn't look up, and it was up to Luigi to fill in the gaps.

"S-s-s-sorry…" he started, clearly distressed at the sight of the boo, "But my b-b-brother is d-d-d… sad from hearing p-p-pp-p-p-peach's voice."

Bow laughed in her trademark manner.

"Are you so stunned by my beauty that you cannot speak clearly? Understandable. But I still don't understand why Mario is so glum: I'm here, after all!"

Goombella stared at her. They had met before, once, but she was still unsure on what that Boo was all about.

"Regardless," She continued, "sitting" next to Mario, "maybe I can help. Your email sounded distressing; perhaps I can help you mull things over."

Mario was silent, eyes half lit: he had been able to get past her death after a while, but… hearing such a perfect recording of her voice, it really got to him. It was like being given a taste of an addictive wine after years of being sober. However, with him silent, it was up to Luigi, and to some extent Goombella, to tell the Boo queen what exactly was going on. After explaining everything to her, she seemed considerate.

"My, I wish I knew it was so dire, I would have sent some fast boo's after that aircraft… but it's not all lost, isn't it? After all, it was the Koopa clown car. And only one person I know uses that."

Luigi had gotten slightly more comfortable around the undead, and was able to speak without stumbling now.

"Well, the thing is, the attacker keeps changing things up and tricking us, that might just be another red herring, ya know? And we don't really wanna make Bowser angry by marching into his castle and saying 'hey! Its been years, but we think your attacking us! Have at thee!' if we were wrong about that, well, you know."

"its our only lead." Mario interrupted, his eyes on his lap and his voice deadbeat. "we have to take it."

Bow looked at him sadly.

"You seem tired, dear. I'll have Bootler set you up a nice warm bed." Bootler, in turn, bowed and left the room.

"Its fine…" he insisted, but made no other objections. They could really use the rest anyway, and if they had to go to Bowser's castle, well, all the better reason for a good nights sleep.

"I admit," Goombella spoke aloud, "I'd rather check out that Flawful fellow, he seems like he'd have good motive and a way to fake the voice… but we would never find him. At least Bowser's always cooped up in his castle."

With that, Bootler came back.

"Sir, your room is ready, if you would follow me. The rest of you will be given your rooms shortly."

Mario stood up and slowly walked over to the elderly boo, and followed him to his room: as what one could expect, the room was dusty and old, but ultimately well-taken care of. There was an old Radio on a shelf next to an equally old velvet bed. In the corner of the room was an ancient rocking chair, covered in spider webs. Unused drawers lined the walls, and on top of one lay an old mirror, cracked from misuse.

"_Oh my… those are some fairly nasty wrinkles you've got there, dear."_

Tenderly, he picked up the mirror and gazed at the figure staring back at him: a old man, his once proud mustache now a dull gray color. His eyes were hardened from years of fighting. Wrinkles were plentiful on his face, mostly under and around his eyes. He stared at himself for a moment: when did this happen to him? He hadn't even noticed the years as they flew past… there had been so many sense Peach's death. I mean, he was far from a blind old man, but he certainly wasn't a spring chicken anymore.

A knocking at the door. Quickly, he put down the mirror and called the guest in.

"Come in."

The door peered open and standing in it was Goombella.

"Mario, I just wanted to apologize for… you know… earlier. With your brother, and calling you emo, and…"

He looked down at the Goomba and sighed.

"I have a question for you… why weren't you surprised to see my face when we met two days ago? Its been years, I would of thought you'd be surprised to see me like… well… this…"

Goombella gave out a small laugh.

"Time happens, silly. Everyone ages, its not some big secret. Heck, I'm surprised you recognized ME, I've aged so much!"

He had to admit, he hadn't noticed much of a difference, outside her slightly longer hair.

"I suppose… you know, it has been too long. Tell me, what's gone on in your life? Have you started a family? What discoveries have you made?"

She shifted uncomfortably, blushing slightly.

"Well… um… not much! You know, I still have a lot of time ahead of me," she laughed nervously, looking away, "I'm not really interested in starting a family yet… I mean, I guess boy's came and went, but…"

Mario, even after years, was oblivious.

"…uh, but work has been great! Yeah! I've discovered a lot more ruins in Dry Dry Desert, and I've done a ton of research on the town under Rougeport! Its like a dream! So, uh… what have you been up too?"

He smiled at her.

"That's good… well, not much. Plumbing, sports, the whole lifestyle… though everything gets a little dull once you do it to often. And I think all those years of head bonking has finally caught up with me!"

They both laughed slightly at the joke, both slightly uncomfortable with the acknowledgement that they were indeed aging.

"Say, Mario… remember our journey? To get the crystal stars?"

He was puzzled. "How could I forget?"

"Well, its just… we spent so much time together. And, well, heh…" she was looking away from him, "when we were at inns, we always had to share a bed, remember?"

He nodded.

"Well, this place…" she started, looking around, "It's kinda… creepy. It freaks me out, honestly, and… well, I was wondering, if, you know, for old time's sake, if I could…"

She realized what she was asking, and how silly it was. Desperately, she looked around the room for some way to get out of finishing that sentence the way she originally planned.

"…sleep on that chair? Just, you know, so I don't have to be alone in this place."

Mario tilted his head curiously… funny, he could swear she would rather die than sleep on a chair covered with spiders.

"Well, sure. But I honestly expected that kind of behavior from Luigi."

She laughed nervously and brushed off the chair, internally dying a little from having to contact a spiders web. Once the chair was clean, she slowly settled herself into it.

"Well, goodnight."

"Goodnight."

And so both of them slowly fell asleep, preparing for the unpleasant journey tomorrow would bring.

~End of Chapter Nine~


	11. Chapter 10

Dislcaimer: Mario and gang are the property of Nintendo and its affiliates. =3 I, however, am a trespasser on that property, and will proceed to fork the lawn.

Authors note: Well, we're already at the double digits, and there has been very little progression in the story: but that's all about to change! The koopa king will be visited today! Why is he reigniting the long dead rivalry between himself and the plumber? Is the attacker a unique person, or a run-of-the-mill koopa that's magically enhanced? Will Kammy Koopa be able to teach Mario how to love again? Find out all of these questions, and less, in the next chapter! But be wary, readers… this might be more cliché than meets the eye!

Chapter 10

~Old friends, Older Enemies~

…"_you…WHAAAAAAAAAATTTTT??????"_

_Bowser roared at his minions, as all of them slouched down: only one person was responsible, but they were all going to get it. They knew that. _

"_I… I panicked… she was escaping, and…"_

"_SILENCE!" The Koopa King roared. "I have stated EXPLICITLY that in the event of an escape, you shouldn't touch her unless you know you can do it without hurting her!"_

"_I…"_

_He couldn't believe it. He still couldn't 100% believe the princess was actually dead. But simply the mention of the idea… it enraged him. Everyone said she was dead, but… she couldn't be. He told himself that over, and over again. She couldn't be dead. _

_However… real or not, confessing to killing his love… there would be hell to pay._

_Bowser stepped down from his throne, and glared at the multitudes of minions: half his army was in the room, sheepishly looking away, many afraid for their lives: as they should be. They all came because they figured this was big news so they should have been there, but that was a mistake. As he glared at them, he spoke, calmly._

"_Kamek. Come here."_

_Out of nowhere, Bowsers right hand man, Kamek, appeared on his broomstick, floating at the eye level of the enraged dragon._

"_Lock the door with your magic."_

_Dutifully, the Magikoopa did what he was told._

_...it was time to dish out the punishment. _

…_much later…_

_The door opened. A lone person wandered through the maze of corpses and blood, until he found the Hammer brother that he was looking for, curled up in a ball in the corner, trying to escape the sight and stench of his slaughtered brethren. _

"_you did well." The figure told the cowering koopa, who was amazed he was still alive._

"_You… you saved me…" he whispered, in shock._

"_As per our agreement. Just be glad you were the one to kill the princess: if you hadn't done it, someone else would, and you would be dead right now. Now leave. If you value your life, get out of here before Bowser realizes your still alive."_

_With that, the Hammer Brother ran out the door, out of the castle, nervous, afraid, but mostly thankful he was alive. _

~*~

To be completely honest, Goombella didn't sleep at all that night. Not only was her resting place uncomfortable, but until just recently it had been the home of what could very well be thousands of spiders, so the gross factor was over the roof. However, she did not move: anything to save herself from the embarrassment of what could of happened if she straight out asked what she was going to in the first place.

As dawn broke, and sunlight started to illuminate the dense forest around them, Bootler entered the room very daintily and rang a crystalline bell: snapping her out of her half-asleep state.

"Master Mario, please awaken. Your breakfast is ready in the dining hall."

Slowly, the plumbers eyes awoken.

"Oh… Alright… I'll be right down…"

Mario, just like in the golden days of his adventuring, slept with his clothes on, making this morning routine infinitely easier. He gave a passing glance to Goombella as he awoke, and he couldn't help noticing the bags under her eyes.

"didn't sleep well?" he asked between yawns.

She shook her head.

"No, it was fine. Great. Lets go eat…"

She stumbled out of the wooden chair towards the dining hall, a concerned Mario watching her leave. Slowly, he pulled himself out of bed and took the opportunity to straighten himself out before leaving for breakfast. Finding the dining hall, he sat himself down next to his brother and Goombella: both of them had huge bags under their eyes as they slowly chewed on the meal before them, which was Omelets. It seemed both of them had a hard time sleeping.

Mario took a bite of his meal and addressed Luigi.

"Hard night, eh?"

"You have no idea, bro…" he whined. "There were voices all over the place, and these eyes watching me! I swear, I may have even pe-"

"-That's enough, I get it." Mario interrupted. There was no doubt in his mind the Boo's simply saw a easy target and decided to take advantage of it. It was their nature. Couldn't blame em'. Its not like they had much else to do with their afterlives.

"Well, in any case, I'm sorry you didn't get any good sleep. Its gonna make today a lot harder for you."

Luigi sighed and took another bite of the food so expertly prepared for him by the boo cooks: everything tasted dead, as odd as that sounded. Even the stuff that was never alive. Must become an acquired taste once you become a ghost.

In any case, they finished their food, said their goodbyes, and left the mansion and in turn, the Forever forest (with the help of a more helpful Boo guide).

Standing at the edge of the forest, the morning sun beaming against their skins, Mario kneeled over a pile of dirt and started to draw in it.

"Well, here we are, and here's Bowser's castle. I know how to get their by heart, as you can all assume, so that wont be a problem. We'll go to Toad Town, drop Goombella off, and-"

"Wait, wait, wait." She interrupted. "What do you mean by drop me off?"

Mario sighed. "I don't think you should come with us to Bowser's Castle. Not only aren't you well rested, but its also been years sense you've last had to fight. I doubt your in shape for the traps of Bowser's Castle."

She stepped back, insulted.

"What? We've faced worse together! And Im not that out of shape! I still look great! And Luigi's not well rested, but your bringing him along to!"

"Luigi is my brother, and a target of the attacker. He has to come. Look, you said it yourself: you have a lot of life ahead of you. I don't want you to risk it needlessly. I needed your help to fight the Shadow Queen, but… I don't need your help to confront Bowser."

She looked down: she was feeling so many things right now. Anger, sadness, humiliation… but she couldn't seem to express any of those things right now. She simply turned around and started to walk off.

"Oh. Okay. I get it. I'll see you around, Mario."

He looked on as she seemed to go aimlessly: anyplace was better than here. She just needed to get away from Mario. He knew that, and she knew that, so he made no action to try to stop her. He just watched her go.

There was silence for a moment, until Luigi had to ask.

"Why DID you have to get rid of her? Your excuses were kinda weak."

Mario was silent for a moment, as he watched her leave, then addressed his brother quietly.

"Bowser's castle has a lot of traps: and to conquer those traps, she would need something that she doesn't have."

"Courage?"

"No…"

"Experience?"

"No…"

"Height?"

"Arms, stupid."

Mario flailed his arms about to prove his point: he was right. Goombella would of slowed them down if they would have to keep carrying her or protecting her from things that normally need hands to get through: he had to lie about it because he didn't want to insult her… well, he did anyway, but he was trying to avoid that.

"Comeon, lets go."

Luigi nodded in agreement, then they went off to Bowser's castle.

"Yes… lets go."

~*~

Bowser's Castle. It stood proudly above the scorched landscape he himself created. Not a soul was around, not a guard, no one. He had scared off all those loyal to him when he massacred half his army after they reported Peach's death. All that stood between the brothers and the dragon were his many traps, many of which have stopped working from lack of maintenance. The pair of hero's didn't waste any time taking in the scenery, they simply kicked down the front door and started to navigate the halls.

They weren't surprised by anything. Occasionally, they would find a pool of lava, they would simply leap over it. Jumping fireballs? Easy enough to dodge. Falling spikes? Just time it right, and everything was okay. It wasn't long until they reached the doors to the throne room. Without a word, they opened it to see the King of Koopas: he looked like he hadn't aged a day.

He was slumped on his throne, looking dully out the window when the brothers came in. Upon realizing he wasn't alone, he shifted his eyes from the window's to the brothers. There was neither hate nor love, simply the recognition of their existence.

"What?" he asked in his usual gruff manner. It was good to see not everything had changed.

"Bowser, have you been the one behind the assassin attacks?"

He turned his head to face them.

"I don't know what your talking about. If I was behind an attack, you'd be dead by now."

Mario took a step forward.

"Bowser, when me and my brother were in the Forever Forest, we saw your Koopa Clown Car pick up the attacker. I'll ask you again, are you responsible?"

Bowser, now slightly more interested, sat up.

"No… I gave that to Jr. a few years back. I didn't need it. I guess he's the one who's attacking you."

Luigi turned to his brother.

"It would make sense. He did create his own fire in the pipes, and it would explain how he got a lift with the car, obviously."

Mario didn't turn to look at his brother, but he nodded to show him he was listening.

"The assassin had Peach's voice. Did you invent something…? Like some way to make a clone or something, that Jr could of used? How about copying the voice?"

"Well," Bowser started: clearly he was okay with helping the brothers, even though it was his own son he was helping catch. "No, I can't say I have. I did ask Kammy Koopa to fetch me that helmet Flawful was using after that whole adventure in the Bean Kingdom and the mushroom incident. I though it would have been a nice toy to play with, but… I don't think that fanned out."

"Oh…"

"That all?"

"No, one more thing: why are you helping us?"

Bowser slowly rocked himself up and started to walk unthreateningly over to Mario and Luigi.

"I'm bored. I have no army, no princess, no motive, no anything. The only thrills I've had in a long time is scaring the occasional daredevil that would enter the grounds on a bet. Seeing you guy's here is kind of a comfort, it means I still have some meaning in this pathetic existence of mine."

Mario shifted his weight.

"I admit, I was a bit surprised you didn't ask for a fight…" Bowser's old arch nemesis stated.

"Fight? Over what? I have nothing. Nothing to lose, nothing to gain. If I just wanted to pound someone, I might as well pound a rock. At least a rock won't hit back."

"I see…"

Bowser was right in front of the two, his tired eyes simply glancing over their features.

"Tell you what: let me help."

"WHAT?" Both brothers hollered in unison.

"I may be an old dead beat, but I'm not about to let some random loser do something I never could. If your going to be killed, I'm gonna do it. I don't want anyone else doing in my rival. I'm also not fond of the idea of anyone framing my son."

All three looked at each other: one has-been villain, a tired old plumber, and his famous brother.

This would be interesting…

~End of Chapter 10~


	12. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: There actually was a point where I did legally own not the Mario brothers, but a small section of the mushroom kingdom, about a few miles north of Dry Dry Dessert. I got it online in a auction, it was like, a two mile strip of swampland or something. Anyway, I was charmed by the novelty of it for a while, but then I was promptly informed by my sister that I had, in fact, not won online auction, but rather was being attacked in Runescape. Also, I had not won the auction, rather, a giant rat had killed me. I was humiliated and enraged, and I swore of Runescape for the rest of my life.

…anyway, I don't own the Mario brothers.

Authors note: I don't know if ya'll have noticed, but I often slip in tiny references to other fanfics in some of my chapters. Its really only noticeable to fans of each fic, so don't go LOOKING for them, they're just like… asides, or whatever.

In any case, chapter 11 is here! Will the brothers allow Bowser to join their party? Will Goombella come back? How will they track down Bowser Jr? Will the author allow Mario to learn how to love again? Find out ONE of these questions, and possibly more, in the next chapter! Read on, dear readers, but remember: In the Mario universe, there are a lot of mushrooms.

Chapter 11

~Caution, Cakes, and Children~

"_So you understand why I can't ask Mario or Toadsworth?"_

"_Well, I can't say I've ever been in your situation, but yeah, I understand."_

"_That's okay, all I need is your help. Its not the most elaborate plan, but it'll require a lot of time."_

"_What do you have in mind?"_

"_We're going to fatten me up with cake."_

"_What?"_

"_You heard me. We're going to make cake every night, and every morning I'll eat It, every day."_

"_But wont that-"_

"_Don't you see? If I get fat of the cake…"_

"_Oh… right! I get it now! That's perfect! But wont the cooks know?"_

"_No. They'll just blame each other. They argue more than they think."_

"_Alright. I'm in. Lets get to the kitchen."_

~*~

"I am 100% unsure about this, bro. I don't think we can trust em'." Luigi whispered to his brother.

"I'm just as unsure as you are, but he would make it a lot easier to find Bowser Jr."

"But do we NEED him?"

"We might. Jr could keep running and attacking, but with Bowser we'd have one chance to make him hold still so we can catch him."

"But bro, it's his own son! He could be planning to backstab us!"

"Yes, but he seems to think that someone is framing him. And even if it IS his son it would make sense he would try to stop us from hurting him with negotiation. He should know by now we'd kick his butt if he tried to attack us anyway."

"I really don't like this, Mario… but… I guess we can do whatever you see is best."

Mario and Luigi had excused themselves earlier from Bowser's Chambers so they could discuss things alone. After all, this would be a big decision, one that could make or break the brothers. The dragon was left in his chambers to wait for the final verdict.

Mario tried to reassure his brother, "Its not like we haven't defeated him a million times over. We'll be fine. Besides, if he WAS to lead us to a trap, then the attacker would be there, wouldn't she? We could catch em' then!"

Luigi shifted uncomfortably, but ultimately agreed.

"I suppose… you're the man, bro, we can do this."

With newfangled confidence, the brothers re-entered the castles doors and confronted Bowser.

"You can come. We could use your help."

Bowser sighed.

"Great. Never thought I'd hear that in my lifetime."

With that down, all three sat down at some conveniently placed table and chairs (in a different room, of course), and rolled out a map of the Mushroom World Bowser had. All three looked at it for a moment, then Mario spoke up.

"Here's your son's castle, right?"

Bowser nodded. "Little brat hasn't talked to me in ages, so he might of moved, but last I checked, yeah."

"So," Luigi started, "It's easy. We just rush in confront him. Couldn't be simpler."

Bowser shook his head. "Its not that simple, actually. Last I heard, he installed seven magical pedestals around his castle, surrounding it in a impenetrable force field. In order to break the seal, we have to find the seven keys to the pedestals, which he's scattered across the world, and put them in simultaneously."

Mario and Luigi were silent, dumbstruck.

"…just BSing ya. We can just march right on in, if you disguise yourself and allow me to do all the talking."

Both brothers let out a huge sigh of relief: he still had his cruel streak, even if his rage had died down from years of boredom.

"Well, in ANY case," Mario continued, "With that plan, this should still be simple. Just find some Hammer Bro suits and we'll be good to go. We'll check it out, talk to your son, see if he's behind this or if its another person."

Bowser shrugged. "I doubt its him, though. He really only ever tried to kill you two to make me happy, and to get Peach back… and, well… you know…"

Mario and Luigi nodded. He didn't have to say it.

But then Luigi looked at Bowser, and was clearly puzzled. "What about your other eight kids? Could it be them?"

They would have a good enough reason to hate Mario.

"Can't say for sure. I think they all got scared of me after the Princess died and ran off. I can't get in contact with anyone but Ludwig. He's an odd one… he keeps insisting he can bring the princess back from the dead or something… I think he was trying to be the favorite child again. Saw this as an opportunity, ya know?"

This fact took Mario aback: if that was true, and Ludwig really did bring her back somehow, then… she really COULD be the attacker, under his control or something… and if she WAS the attacker, well… Mario couldn't fight her. Luigi realized this fact, too, but was silent on the issue: Bowser was still in the dark about most of the facts.

"So… it could be Ludwig, then…" Mario whispered.

"What the underwhere are you talking about?" Bowser insisted.

The next few minutes were spent filling in Bowser their whole story.

"Oh… yeah… but I really think we should focus on Jr first. Call it a Koopa's intuition."

"I don't know…" Mario mumbled, "I think Ludwig has a better chance-"

"-No! Lets check out Jr first!" Bowser nearly barked in his trademark fashion. He sure felt strongly about this, which took the brothers aback: and caused a little suspicion in Mario's head.

_Wait. Why is he so insistent we start with Jr? Is that because that's where the trap is? Is it because he doesn't want Ludwig to be investigated? Something's up… but I'm not going to argue with Bowser: I'll follow and see if I can figure out why he insists on Jr: just in case, though, I'll prepare for a trap…_

"Alright, alright, geeze," Luigi grumbled, "we'll start with Jr, already." It seemed they both had the same thought. Bowser, when hearing this, sighed with contentment. "Good", he said aloud, but both brothers had an eye on him now…

"We leave immediately," Bowser declared, "I still have my big airship: I don't have anyone to run help me run it, though, so you two will be awfully busy." He smirked. The two brothers, in turn, looked at each other exasperatedly.

"Oh, great…"

~End of Chapter 11~


	13. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: If I buy 1% of Nintendo's stocks, can I say I own 1% of Mario?

Authors Note: Yes, things have gotten rather crazy. Mario, Luigi, and Bowser are all going to see if they can get the truth from Bowser's youngest son. But we are left with many questions: Why does Bowser want to visit Jr first so badly? Could Ludwig Von Koopa be the real villain? Is the attacker even in Bowsers family? Find out… NEXT TIME! =3

CAUTION: I ATTEMPT HUMOR IN THIS CHAPTER: It is advised you do not read unless you have a pair of safety goggles. If you find you have read the joke unprotected, please turn your eyes away immediately, wash them out for 10-20 minutes, and then contact a mortician immediately.

Chapter 12

~A lifetime of Deaths~

_All twelve mushroom retainers were seated at a table in the middle of the castle. Outside were multitudes of guards, as to protect twelve toads inside: the meeting was secret, and not even the guards knew what was going on in there. They wanted to do this without being interrupted, or worse, attacked._

"_So… who are we to replace the princess with?" one started. All of them looked at each other, waiting for the next person to speak._

"_There were no heirs, and no mention of anyone replacing her in her will… in fact, her will was barley written out."_

_One of the toads spoke up._

"_We'll have to chose who to replace the princess with. Do we have any nearby kingdoms who would be willing to allow one of their heirs to take over the throne?"_

_They couldn't just pick anyone willy-nilly: the new prince or princess had to be of royal blood. _

"_The Beanbean Kingdom has only one heir, as does the Sarasa kingdom."_

"_What of Jewelry Land? They have a prince, do they not?"_

"_No, the prince has become king by now. King Fret has died a few years earlier."_

"_Could we make a strategic alliance with that kingdom? Its small, but wealthy. We would offer King Pine the official throne, but retain the power ourselves."_

" _I know he was a friend of the princess, but I don't trust him, myself."_

"_I'm not sure. It's a rather distant kingdom for us to be teaming up with. I would much rather try Sarasa kingdom if we were to go with that approach."_

_One retainer spoke up._

"_What of King James?"_

_He was immediately fired._

"_Anyway," the head retainer continued, "There are many wise stars in star haven. Surely there is royalty in that land we might be able to use."_

"_The closest thing to royalty there are the star spirits, and while wise, the people may be upset to have the kingdom headed by a star."_

_All the retainers grumbled: it would seem that all the royalty in the world had only one child! They looked at each other, nearly drowning in hopelessness. If they had a king, then this wouldn't of been a problem… but they had no such luck. _

"…_well… there IS a creature of royal blood… who has no throne…"_

_All of the other retainers turned to face Toad. _

"_Prince Froggy… of Yoshi's island..."_

_There was silence for a long time._

…"_so… who's up for Toadsworth?"_

_Everyone agreed, and that was the end of that._

~*~

The two brothers had their bones worked off. As it turned out, on Bowser's airships, there were in fact many jobs needed to be done to make it run smoothly: and what was normally a 20 Koopa operation now had to be done with three relatively old men. However, thanks to long legs, lots of energy, and a no-quit attitude, the three managed to keep the airship afloat and moving.

"Alright," Bowser announced over the PA in a spare moment of free time, "I have a pair of Hammer Bro suits in the back, if you want to help yourself to them after we land."

Mario, who was fixing the steam pipes, and Luigi, who was operating the steering mechanism, both heard him and took mental notes as to its location.

"Also, we'll be at my son's place in about 20 minutes. This baby can FLY."

With that reassuring fact in mind, the brothers continued to juggle the many jobs needed to be done on the ship.

~*~

They landed a good distance away from the gate to Jr's personal castle, and Bowser quickly called Mario and Luigi onto the deck. When they got there, Bowser spoke to them quickly and quietly.

"Alright, I need you guy's to go in the back and change quickly. My son still has a good number of men in his control, and the guards will come out to check every inch of the ship. You need to change before they see you, all right? Hurry!"

Mario and Luigi nodded and rushed into the ship, towards the back, while two Elite Koopa's climbed onto the ship. In the back, where Bowser said the suits would be, was a small, cramped room with nothing but a Body-sized Mirror, a table (where two hammer bro suits were), and a changing room. Luigi opted to change first, and while he did that Mario expressed some concern.

" He's a question that's been bothering me: why would Jr have any reason not to trust his dad?"

Luigi popped his head out of the changing room.

"Whatta mean?"

"I mean, why would Jr. feel the need to check Bowser's airship? Bowser said that the guards would look it over, but why?"

"I dunno." Luigi stepped out.

"Hmm." Mario mumbled as he walked into the changing room with his suit.

"Maybe he's still scared of Bowser for killing all those people?" Luigi pondered.

"I guess." Mario said, still changing, "But this just keeps getting weirder…"

Just as Mario stepped out, the two Elite koopa's came in.

"You work on this ship?" they asked.

Mario and Luigi breathlessly shook their head yes.

"alright…" they left again, clearly satisfied with that answer.

Once the door was closed, Mario and Luigi let out sighs of relief. It worked… but their relief was short lived. The mirror, in that instant, was smashed, suddenly revealing a small, dark, cramped room behind it, where the assassin stood, covered with dark clothing that covered them head to toe: they broke the mirror with a Super scope, and with the mirror broken, they quickly turned the gun onto Mario.

There was not much way he could get out of this one. Not a word was spoken from the attacker, they just fired.

However, after years of dodging bullets of all kinds, including living ones twice his size, Mario ducked and dodged the lethal fire, and Luigi, in turn, hurled a hammer at the gun, which knocked it to the ground, now broken.

Mario smirked. Luigi smiled, feeling achieved. The Assassin backed off… the room behind it was small, but there was enough room for the attacker to leap back, reach into its sleeves, and pull out a Mario-party related weapon: a Chomp call. It moved the whistle up to its nearly invisible lips, while both Mario and Luigi leapt forward to try to stop any wind from going through that whistle: it was too late, though, and soon a piercing screech rippled through the airship, signaling a giant Chain Chomp to burst through the back of the ship: before Mario or Luigi could reach the attacker, they leapt onto the dog's back and instructed it to run off. The two brothers were left in its dust, forced to watch from the broken backside of the once proud airship.

Bowser soon came rushing down.

"I heard a whistle. Is everything okay?"

Mario, in turn, glared at Bowser.

"Was this you? Did you hide the attacker down here?!?"

Bowser was taken aback.

"No, they must of followed you and become a stowaway. I've never kept a mirror in here. See?"

Bowser pointed to the paint around the mirror: logically, if it had been there for long, the paint under the mirror would have been a different color, but it was the same. Mario wasn't SURE how that proved the dragon's innocence, but he wouldn't speak up again… there wasn't solid evidence against him.

"You two were just careless, I suppose. But its not all good news…"

They looked at him curiously: sometimes you forgot that Bowser was in fact intelligent.

"The Chomp Call she used," he reasoned, "There must have been a trained chain chomp nearby… and it would be hard to do that without my son's consent. It is his land, after all… though it wouldn't be impossible if he followed us from the ground…"

Bowser seemed considerate, and seeming to weigh the possibility it was his favored son doing all this. Mario wondered how Bowser knew it was a Chomp Call, but then he reasoned that the huge hole in the back of the ship was a hint. Luigi was worried, his default emotion.

"In any case, we have the okay," Bowser continued, "So lets go."

Both brothers, feeling unsure, followed the Ex-Koopa King off the airship and towards the castle gates: Both Bowser and the Mario brothers in disguise got salutes as they passed.

"Jr is in the throne room, obviously," Bowser filled them in as they walked, "All you guy's gotta do is be quiet. I'll see what I can get outta my son." He winked, "I may not look like it, but I'm a skilled interrogator!"

Well, it seemed this journey put some life back into him.

"We're sure, Bowser…" Luigi mumbled.

In the many years sense the slaughter at Bowser's hands, the Koopa army has slowly rebuilt itself, it seemed, and were willing to work under Jr. The castle was teaming with Koopa's and other assorted members of Mario's rouge gallery, but all of them were ignoring Mario and Luigi completely: it seemed that the suits were working…

They reached the double doors to the throne room, and Bowser pushed it open without hesitation: and at the end of the hall, laying slumped on the throne, was Bowser Jr: he was shriveled, wrinkled, and dry… and looming over him was a figure cloaked in black, in her hands a dagger and a vial of posion. The assassin turned to see Mario and Luigi and Bowser, then leapt out a window and ran off. Bowser was stunned. Mario was shocked. Luigi was confused…

What just happened?

~End of Chapter 12~


	14. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: Kindly don't remind me of the fact I don't own Mario. It saddens me.

Authors note: Well, Jr is dead. BUT there are endless amount of questions from this! Why is Jr so shriveled? How did the assassin kill with all the guards around? Will Jr's corpse teach Mario how to love again? The answer to all these questions: No. But I would like to say, this chapter didn't go at ALL what I was expecting: Mario's detective skills impress even me sometimes! I expected this story to be longer, but it seems that It's already at its halfway point! If only Mario was dumber…

Also, I'd like to give a big shout out to all my reviewers! You guys' make my life. ^_^

Chapter 13

~The Old Switcharoo~

_She was surrounded. _

_Mario, Luigi, a whole slew of Toads, Toadsworth, and Daisy had surrounded the fattened princess._

"_Peach," Daisy started, "Your fat. You need to stop eating cakes."_

"_Its terrible for your health, and for your looks!" Toadsworth added, acting in a very grandfatherly manner. _

"_Peach, your dresses don't fit anymore, we have to keep making new ones!" The toads complained._

"_You've lost your elegance and grace, Princess," Luigi insisted, "You wont be able to dance at the Mushroom ball! Its coming up!"_

_Mario looked around… he was supposed to say something… but… he wasn't sure what to say. Everything everyone was saying was true, but… he couldn't really bring himself to insult the princess. She did need to stop eating so many cakes, though, so…_

"_Um… Peach… uh…" he started nervously, "…it'll be harder to jump"_

_All of them looked a the pudgy princess, who was in a corner of the castle: they tried to do this in the throne room, but she ran off, so they cornered her here._

_She had tears in her eyes as she spoke in an overdramatic way._

"_Oh, your all so mean! And to think, I thought you loved me for who I was, not how I look! So cruel! So cold!" She turned her head from them and cried into her hands. Everyone (except Mario) looked down at her unsympathetically. Her belly was huge, as were her legs and her chest._

_An explosion behind peach knocked them all off their feet, and in the dust and debris was a floating white cup with a dragon in it, a bullet blaster attached to the side. A evil laugh roared through the halls, and quickly peach was being grappled by metal claws, which picked her up and threw her in the Koopa Clown Car with the dragon._

"_You fools!" Bowser roared, "Now I have the princess, and there's-"_

_He turned to look at the princess._

"_Whoa! What happened to YOU?"_

_Peach was silent, still surprised. Mario was standing dramatically before the hole, while everyone else looked worried, but sure that Mario could handle the job. In the moment of Bowser's surprise at peach's gained weight, Mario leapt up onto the ship and tried to grab the princess._

…_but failed. He couldn't carry her, she was so large. Bowser, with a huge laugh, pushed Mario out of his clown car._

"_Ha! She may have put on a little weight, but I guess I can use that to my advantage! Ha ha! See you losers later!"_

_With that, the vehicle flew off, leaving Mario and co to watch helplessly from the castle. It looked like he would be on another adventure soon…_

~*~

"I'm just so… I don't know…" Bowser was mumbling in disbelief, sitting limply on a chair provided by him by the henchmen. Mario and Luigi were standing around him, thinking and pondering.

"Did you see that guy, bro?" Luigi started, "He was so wrinkled and dry, that must have been one heck of a poison!"

Mario shook his head in agreement: it almost looked like he was a 100 year old mummy. Disregarding respect for Bowser's loss, Mario thought about the situation carefully… naturally, this wasn't exactly an emotionally charged time for him.

"I want to see the corpse before we go," he stated outright, "But what I'm more curious about is how the attacker did it. I mean, there are guards everywhere. How could they not catch her? And why weren't there guards in the throne room? There were always guard's there!"

"Maybe they were still angry about the whole slaughter, and those guards were working with the attacker."

Bowser let out a terrifying roar at the brothers, who stopped talking instantly.

"MY SON JUST DIED! BE A LITTLE MORE SENSITIVE, JERKS!"

The plumbers were quiet for a moment, but then simply left the throne room to talk about things out of earshot.

"What we need to learn first," Mario started, "was how the poison was delivered. Sense she was there physically, it means that she couldn't of slipped it into his food, she must of done something like force-feed him, or cut him with a weapon that was poisoned. It was most likely the cutting-thing, seeing as she was holding a dagger, but still, that could of just been for self defense."

Luigi nodded. "Then lets check out the corpse, bro."

With the guards permission (who still thought them to be regular hammer bro's) the brothers entered the scene of the crime and looked the body over: it was actually fairly large, despite its wrinkled and old appearance: well, he DID have to age at least a little all this time. His eyes were still open, but were only glassy and emotionless. He looked very old…

There was a clean cut across his throat, which Mario noticed… It was hard not too with such large bloodstains on his scaly chest. There was a whole lot of blood there, at one time, but it must of dried up and been washed off. This caught Mario's attention.

"Hey, Luigi. See the cut?"

Luigi peered at it and nodded. "This must be where the poison got in, eh?"

Mario wasn't so sure.

"I'm not so sure. See, the neck is a very vital point on the body. One-hit kill, you know what I mean. Its also hard to hit… so why would they poison him by slitting his throat? It would be easier just to cut an arm or something…"

Luigi shrugged.

"Maybe they attacked from behind and cut the throat on instinct or something, or they added the poison just to be SURE it would be lethal?"

…Mario stopped. Something just dawned on him, and suddenly everything clicked in his head.

"No… wait…"

Mario grabbed Luigi and burst into Bowser's room, where he was sitting, seemingly emotionally broken.

"Well, there's some good news! Jr isn't dead!"

Bowser looked up, angry.

"Why would you say such a mean thing? Its not like you!"

Mario smirked.

"But he's not. He's sitting right in front of me."

Bowser, at first, looked shocked… but then his shocked face turned into a sly grin.

"What makes you think so?"

"It's simple, really. If poison was the cause of death, then why would the attacker slit his throat? Not only would it be unnecessary, but it would make it impossible for the poison to actually enter the body: the flow of blood from the neck would be too strong, and it would wash away any poison on the blade."

Luigi himself was surprised.

"But Bro, then how come he looked so old and wrinkled?"

Mario looked down, frankly disgusted he was about to say this…

"That was Bowser. The real one. He looks so old because he IS that old… and the reason Jr looks like Bowser the way we remember is because HE'S aged as well…"

Mario looked up at Jr with rage in his eyes.

"Why? Why did you kill your own father? I thought you loved him!"

Jr spat on the ground and stood up.

"I DID love him, Mario. But he turned weak… after mama died, he refused to have fun anymore. He didn't try to take over the world, he didn't cause any havoc, he did nothing. He just moped around and felt sorry for himself. That wasn't the papa I loved… he was pathetic."

Luigi was taken aback by all this, but found the courage to speak up.

"So you're the one's behind all the attacks!"

Jr. laughed.

"That's right. It was me! I was the one who sent the assassin after you! It seemed fitting, after all: I had planned to end my fathers game a long time ago, but it would have been better if I could of proven my superiority over him first by doing something he never could: Kill the Mario brothers. At first, our attempts failed, but when I realized that you had seen the getaway vehicle, I saw it as a opportunity to get rid of you guys… but if only you weren't so slippery…"

He laughed.

"But that doesn't matter now! Guards! You can stop pretending you cant tell now! Kill the Mario brothers!"

All the guards, who previously had been unable to see through the disguise's of the two brothers, turned on them: now that he realized it, Mario felt like an idiot: when he went on his FIRST adventure with the Hammer Bro suits, the henchmen could still tell who he was by looking at his face! It was so obvious now! Why didn't he notice this?

But now wasn't the time for this. Right now, the brothers were in the middle of enemy territory, and things weren't looking up for them… in any way, shape, or form.

~End of Chapter 13~


	15. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: Candy canes!

Authors note: Well, we've figured out who the man backing up the attacker is. But mysteries still remain: Who is the actual attacker? What was in that bundle of cloth? Is Ludwig involved in any way? Try to mull all this over, kiddies, as you read on: things may turn messy from here on out!

Also, I want to apologize. Life is happening, so my usual system wont work. I'll still update daily, but the quality might drop a little. Hope its forgivable. ^_^;

Chapter 14

~The Pointlessly Long Combat Chapter~

"_Man, princess, you've gotten chubby. Nothing a little exercise wont fix." Bowser taunted the princess, who was standing before him, guarded by two Koopa troopers._

"_You'll never get away with this, you big brute!" Peach retorted, "Mario will come and save me! You know that as well as I do!"_

_He chuckled. "Yeah, sure. I bet. But this time, I'm ready. I've tripled my defenses and I've fortified my traps. He'll be so worn out by the time he reaches me he'll be easy pickings. Besides, it not like he can carry you off or anything."_

_She stomped her foot angrily._

"_I am NOT fat!" _

_He laughed again. "Yeah, sure, whatever. Take her to her cell! She'll start to sweat off those pounds tomorrow!" _

_The two Koopa's he was addressing both saluted their king, grabbed peach by her chubby arms, and lead her out of the door down the hall, towards the dungeon. As she reluctantly followed them, she passed a more unusual Koopa: she didn't recognize him, but he was smaller, like the size of Bowser Jr, but had crazy blue hair… she gave him a curious glance, and he in turn looked up to see her. _

…_he studied her carefully, then smirked to himself: this was troubling. He walked away, with a slight bounce in his step._

…_what did he know…?_

~*~

Mario ducked a fireball shot by a fire bro, while Luigi clumsily leapt over a diving Goomba, landing on his assailants head. It was pretty clear now how Bowser was killed: these guards were loyal to Jr, and if he was the one controlling the assassin, well, they sure wouldn't stop her from doing her job. It was also fairly obvious now how the Assassin ambushed them, she was there the whole time, it was all a set up from the beginning. However, these revelations did not need to be shared between the brothers, both of them knew it already: now they just needed to get to and confront Jr, who had long retreated to the top of his castle: it was time for another dragon hunt, and after all this time.

They battled their way through the halls, it was as if the whole army was in the castle: this guy really wanted them dead. Sure, his army wasn't as strong as Bowser's was before the slaughter, but they were all concentrated in the castle, so it seemed like a endless swarm: at least when they fought Bowser he spread them out. As they dodged and ducked from a rain of weapons and attacks, they slowly fought up to the stairs: at every turn was a gang of Koopas, in every hallway a huge group of Goomba's. However, the skill and endurance of the brothers did them well, and they were able to overcome every obstacle that was thrown at them.

Naturally, it would be pages worth of descriptions to go through all of it.

"Mario!" Luigi called after narrowly avoiding a Chain chomp that had been released down a hallway ,"Do you think the robe-girl will be attack us before we reach Jr?"

Mario, who had just finished beating up his millionth koopa, yelled back "The attacker was more skilled then these jokers, so yeah, I'd think so!"

With that brief exchange of dialogue, they continued through the castle.

~*~

Both brothers stood before another large door, panting and breathing heavily. It had been ages sense they've had to do anything like that, it knocked some air outta them to have to do it so suddenly once again. They continued to pant like dogs in front of the gate, knowing they would have to fight another dangerous foe on the other side.

"well… here… we… are!" Luigi panted between breaths. Mario shook his head: they were too old for this.

Both of them collapsed on the ground before the doors: a quick break wouldn't kill them, and as far as the people behind the gates knew, they were still struggling to get up here. As they caught their breath, they had time to wonder what exactly would be behind the gates: another legion of enemies? The dark-clad attacker? Jr himself? The only way to be sure was to open the door, but… they were tired. They needed a few minutes, and they would take them.

After said amount of time passed, Mario and Luigi stood semi-proudly before the door and pushed it open, to reveal an arena: a large, circular room with a stairwell going up at the other end. Standing in the center was the assassin, still cloaked in black. Mario got ready for combat, as did Luigi. The attacker didn't do anything so dramatic, and simply extended their hands, fire shooting out.

Both brothers dodged in opposite directions:

"_Long Brown hair! And a flower!"_

Those words came back to Mario… wait, the flower… it must have been a fire flower! But that didn't explain the long brown hair… but he would worry about that later. Right now, the attacker took out the super scope again, shooting at Mario but dodging Luigi's punch's: at the same time. How odd… she must of really found Luigi unthreatening.

After running out of ammo, she threw the gun at Mario and, tired of Luigi's attacks, suddenly swept under his legs, tripping him, then leapt into the air after Mario: she was one hell of a jumper, that was for sure: nearly as good as Luigi!

…wait… the hole in the ceiling. The attacker, now that he thought about it, couldn't of used a spring: the flow of water was weakened when the brothers were down there, so the spring wouldn't of been able to be swept away: she must of just been a great jumper… but… how?

Mario dodged the stomp attack and tried to kick her face, but she sidestepped and they continued to attack each other, much like a elegant, well thought out dance. The attackers body was very human, it seemed, slim in figure with arms and legs. But the only humans (outside Wario and Wiluigi, and you could argue they weren't human) Mario knew were the people he golfed with, and played tennis with. They really wouldn't have a reason to attack him… would they?

Luigi eventually joined the dance of attacking and dodging, but this attacker must have been trained for such situations, for she managed to masterfully dodge both of them (although now her attacking capabilities were limited): but she couldn't do it forever. One slip up, was all it took, one misstep, and soon both brothers managed to make contact with the body: Luigi with a devastating kick to the ribs and Mario with a normally deadly backhand to her face: as per anime physics, she went flying back a few feet, and skid on the ground a bit, before leaping back up.

"I wont let you kill my brother!" she called angrily at the two: yes, it was peaches voice, but… brother?

"What do you mean-" Mario started to ask, but was interrupted by her movement. She reached into her sleeves and pulled out another weapon: a mega mushroom. She pushed it into herself, making herself three times the size of the brothers: then she rushed at them, like an angry bear defending her cubs. Both brothers pulled out their hammers, and they continued to battle the strange women. If this was peach, Mario reasoned as they fought, she had really learned a lot in the way of combat ever sense her "reanimation", one could say but… something told him this wasn't peach, just someone using her voice.

She was skilled, powerful, and had a large assortment of weapons. However, they were the Mario Brothers. At the end of the day, they knew that they would win: and they did. After what seemed like an eternity, they stood over the slumped figure in black triumphantly: she was slumped against the wall, breathing heavily, trying to think of a way to turn this around, even though she probably knew that could not happen. Mario walked towards the attacker, to pull off her cloak… when suddenly, a crack came from the ceiling: a huge hole was blasted, and Jr landed in front of her with a glare in his eyes, and a mushroom Shake in his hand.

"Here." he tossed it back to his assassin, who drank it greedily.

"Heh, alone, my sister and me are powerful, but TOGETHER, we'll kick your sorry rears and send you to the Underwhere!"

He smiled wickedly and pulled out an old friend: the magic paintbrush.

Mario and Luigi took deep breaths… looks like this was far from over.

"I'll take Jr." he instructed Luigi, "you finish off the assassin." Luigi nodded.

"Okie dokie!"

The fighting continued. Jr and Mario were fighting much like Bowser and Mario fought in the days of old: dodging fire, paint, and other attacks while the Plumber tried to reach behind the dragon to nab the tail. Luigi and the assassin fought like two martial art masters, nimbly dodging each blow and sending another one, each strike only managing to strike air.

The first turn in combat happened with Mario: who managed to slide between the dragon's legs and nab his tail. Despite the struggle from Bowser's son, Mario grasped him firmly and started to spin the dragon around: just like good times. The assassin noticed and tried to intervene, but Luigi stopped her and reengaged her. Cries came from Jr, who wasn't used to this, and Mario, once he was spinning at full speed, let go, causing the dragon to smash into the stone wall, head first:

…it was clear that Jr's skull wasn't as tough as his fathers. It must have been from years of being spoiled.

His head didn't survive the impact with the stone wall.

…there was silence. Everyone, even Mario, was in shock. They were all still, and the first break of movement of noise came from the attacker: it finally sunk it what happened.

"B… brother…"

She ran out of the room: the Mario brother's didn't stop her.

"Bro…" Luigi mumbled in disbelief.

Mario looked away. "I… I didn't mean too! Bowser always survived stuff like that!"

Luigi dared to slowly approach the disgusting corpse and examine it.

"Well… I don't know what to say, bro, but…"

Mario was frankly sick. He had never killed anyone before, and he didn't expect that Jr would actually… die… and the idea that it was from his hands? He felt the urge to vomit, and the guilt started to grow in his belly as he looked down at his hands.

…what was he going to do now…?

~End of Chapter 14~


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